Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist
by Hardcover
Summary: It's an anime inspired (mostly by Hallow's Field and Negima, both of which lift quite a bit from Harry Potter) story about a girl who finds herself enrolled at a school for mad scientists. I have the whole thing plotted out, it'll be about 28 chapters when done.
1. The 1st Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**Moderately mad**

**Scientist-**

**The First Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

Nobody would deny that young Zippy Zipperdale was extraordinarily smart. Zippy was short for Zippendelka, and her full name was Zippendelka Asimov Zipperdale, quite the mouthful. Needless to say, she preferred the shorter, less formal, moniker of Zippy. Zippy had long been a top student and recognized as a supremely gifted girl, her brilliant mind sometimes confounding the teachers who attempted to school her. She excelled at math, history, and especially science, so it had been with no small sense of pride that her parents would send her to an exclusive school for gifted students to further her education. And so, Zippy was now sitting in the back of a rather less then pristine but serviceable cab, on her way to be enrolled in the prestigious Coddswhollop Academy. Although it meant being away from her parents, family and friends, Zippy welcomed the chance to expand her natural mental prowess. After all, being a genius was worthless if you didn't do anything with it.

Zippy felt that she fit right in with her era; she lived in an age when progress had accelerated, and amazing advances in science were happening all the time. It was, she felt, a great time to be alive, in such an astounding vortex of remarkable innovation and invention. She had even taken a national prize in an applied science competition, which had been presented to her by Dr. Stephen Hawking himself. She had probably pushed things a little by kissing him, but she'd been so excited to meet him in person. Winning the prize had even gotten her an interview on television, and a small amount of fan mail.

That is not to say that Zippy's good points were limited to her mental abilities; Zippy was quite a pretty young lady, possessed of a mane of fiery red hair that ran strait down to her shoulders and curled a bit at the ends. She had large expressive blue eyes that sat behind a large round pair of wire frame glasses. Although Zippy did have contact lenses, she infrequently used them, not liking the ritual of putting them in her eyes. She was slightly short at five foot five, and had a fair complexion of the skin. She was in good physical condition, having excelled in many sports as a child as well as academics, including martial arts. She was slender without looking anorexic, with a sultry curve of the hips, but very small B cup breasts that were a bit of a sore spot to her, in spite of her belief that it really shouldn't be. Try as she might, she couldn't stop being sensitive about her breast size, in spite of her intellectual realization that she was just being completely silly.

All in all, Zippy was an attractive package, possessed of a friendly and enthusiastic disposition that many found infectious. She made friends fairly easily and in general had a relaxed attitude about her that made her easy to deal with, along with a stubborn determination and "stick-to-itiveness" (as her mom called it, although Zippy knew there was no such word) that complimented her large IQ quite nicely. She was also your proverbial nerdy girl in a lot of ways, addicted hopelessly to late night horror and sci fi films. But she figured it could be worse: She could be an otaku like her good for nothing little brother.

She was dressed casually, in a simple pair of blue jeans and a pink and grey T-shirt with the words "E=MC2" across the front in thick black lettering.

She shuffled in the back seat of the cab. Her attempts to engage the cab driver in conversation had proven fruitless, as the strange creepy looking man had proved that he had no desire to say anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. The man was tall, maybe six one, and had a long, pallid face and deep sunken eyes that made him look more or less like Boris Karloff on valium. As such, Zippy had been basically all alone thus far in the trip. She'd occupied herself by reading, and trying to imagine what her new home for the next several years was going to be like. She'd seen the pamphlets, of course, but a pamphlet was not the same as being there.

She stared out the cab window, watching the scenery go by. The road they were on was surround by thick forests on either side, and a heavy fog had rolled in, blanketing the scenery in a dreary coat of light grey. An overcast sky added to the gloomy feeling of the morning. There was almost a sense of foreboding in the oppressive feeling of the murkiness. Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft would have felt right at home on this slightly sinister and shadowy stretch of road.

Zippy frowned, she was sure that Coddswhollop was NOT this far in the country. She wondered if the cab driver was trying to jack up the fare. She was about to say something when the cab made a sudden right turn up a small dirt road that sent Zippy flying to one side of the backseat. No sooner had she righted herself, and then the cab suddenly screeched to a violent halt sending Zippy forward, the seat belt biting into her hips painfully. That was going to leave an unattractive mark.

At first she thought the cab had hit or almost hit something or someone, but then the creepy cab driver turned and looked back at him with those sunken insomniac's eyes.

"We're here." He said simply in that deep throaty voice and got out of the cab.

"'Here'?" Zippy said, bewildered, "Where's 'here'? We're in the middle of nowhere."

Zippy unhooked her belt and scrambled out of the car. The cab driver had already taken her suitcase out of the trunk and extended the handle. Confused zippy looked around her, at first seeing nothing but more trees and fog.

But then she saw it: Right in front of the cab, a large metal bridge ran across a large body of water, a river of some kind, off into a huge building of some kind, silhouetted blurrily in the thick fog on the other side. A large sign topped with six billboard lights with fancy old English lettering next to the bridge gave the name of the place on the other side: "MADAME PETRI'S ACADEMY FOR THE GIFTED AND Eccentric".

This was definitely NOT Coddswhollop.

She turned around to tell the driver he'd made a mistake and found to her horror that he was already leaving, the red glow of his tail lights illuminating the fog with a light pink shade. Zippy shrieked and ran after the cab waving her arms, and trying to get his attention but he seemed to only drive faster.

"Wait, please!" Zippy cried, "There's been a mistake, this is the wrong school! Please stop!"

But he kept on going as Zippy ran after him, hopelessly trying to catch up.

No longer feeling the need to act like a polite young lady, Zippy screamed, "Hey, you $#%&! idiot! This is the wrong $%&$#$! place. %$#$%ing stop the %#$%#!ing car!

Zippy tore after him frantically, but soon the cab disappeared into the gloom of the fog, leaving an infuriated Zippy panting and gasping for breath, still screaming angrily into the gloom.

"This is the wrong place, moron!" She yelled hopelessly, before burying her face in her hands.

Accepting that the cab was gone and it wasn't coming back, Zippy fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, flipping open the front. Her heart sank when she saw the backlit screen reading zero bars. She tried the phone anyways, and got nothing.

Despair surged in her, she'd been abandoned here. She didn't cry, fighting down the encroaching tears. She could fix this, she could deal with it. Well, there was nothing else to do: She'd simply have to go over the bridge to that school and ask someone there to call her a cab, preferably one with a driver who knew how to read a map or a GPS. Zippy stuck her chin up, and walked back to her suitcase, pulling it with her, thankful that it came equipped with wheels. She headed for the long metal bridge.

Stepping out on the bridge, she could see that the river curved in the direction of the school on either side. As she got further and further, it seemed as through the river was actually some kind of moat, though it would have to be the biggest and widest moat she had ever seen in her life. It took her a good twenty minutes to cross the bridge to the other side. From what she could see, the water looked deep, too. She frowned: Who in the world would build a moat around a school? And why build one so big? Were they expecting a siege?

The bridge itself was a wide metal contraption, held together with bolts the size of a grown man's fist. The structure looked old, but exceptionally well maintained; Zippy couldn't see any rust on any of the m metal, a mean feat on a bridge this big so close to water.

As she moved down, her nostrils flared: She could sense a distinct brine scent to the vaporous mist kicked up by the water underneath, a telltale sign of salinated water. The moat was a salt water moat. Strange, Zippy had never heard of one before, why make a moat with salt water, unless they were keeping something alive in there that needed it?

When she finally got to the other side of the bridge, the large building finally came into view, and Zippy's mouth dropped open: The structure was shaped like an old medieval castle, complete with spires and towers, but seemed to be made entirely out of riveted plate metal. A large metal wall, topped with gothic looking steel gargoyles, encircled the property, and a large black metal wrought iron gate sat in front of the bridge. Zippy could also see what appeared to be a huge windmill, metal like the rest of the structure, attached to the building, four huge red sails slowly turning in the wind. The place looked like some kind of weird cross between Castle Dracula and something Jules Verne might have written about.

Aside from the windmill, the highest structure seemed to be a spire that was a good ten stories off the ground. She could see that some parts of the building jutted out over that wall and dangled over the moat, giving the whole thing a bizarre MC Escher type quality to it.

She approached the gate, noticing a strange metal sculpture next to it: It seemed to be some kind of modern art, depicting a mechanical metal man, armored in the manner of ancient Japanese Samurai, but definitely robotic, like something out of a fifties sci fi film. The robot was definitely anthropomorphic, having a head, torso, two arms, and two legs, but instead of feet it had two large thick tires attached to axles at the base of each leg. Quit the interesting creation, actually.

Zippy looked around and saw no call boxes or bells or anything to signal the inside. She peered through the gate, but saw no one in the courtyard beyond, just a large fountain depicting a jumble of mermaids and tritons, made of metal like the rest of the place, she assumed.

She reached down and pulled on the bars, attempting to open the gate. And that was when the robot came to life. 

There was a loud metal grinding sound that startled Zippy, and made her yelp in surprise, followed by the groaning sounds of motors running. The huge metal man turned on her, its hands on its hip. And then, to Zippy's utter astonishment, the robot spoke in a deep metallic voice with a slight reverberated echo.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" The robot demanded.

Startled, Zippy didn't answer for a second, then she said, "I . . . I'm sorry. I was just looking for . . ."

"You think you can jus waltz in here whenever you want? Do you? Do you? Huh? Huh?" The robot replied, "Well, not while Gortcha, that's me, Madame Petri's best guard is on the job."

Getting irritated, Zippy said, "By any chance are you the only guard?"

Gortcha stuck his chest out indignantly, "Huh? What do you mean by that?!"

When Zippy didn't reply, Gortcha snorted, "Oh, I see how it is? You think you're better the Gortcha just because you can read at an adult level. Huh? Is that it? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"No! I just needed some help! You see . . ." Zippy protested.

"You know what? I think you're a thief. I think you're trying to break in and steal stuff. And I, Gortcha, Madame Petri's best guard, that's me, caught you red handed." Gortcha said.

Oboy, was this guy for real? Zippy's mind reeled as the irate man of metal stepped forward, "No, I really need some help."

"You think you can pull one on me? You think your tougher then me?" Gortcha put up his fists and began bouncing back and forth, shadow boxing in front of Zippy, "You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me? Huh? You talkin' ta' me? Huh? You talkin' ta' me? Well I'm the only one here!"

"Gortcha!" A voice said behind him.

Gortcha let out a high shrieking yelp, and jumped back in fright, covering up his head and crouching into down on the ground, letting out a small fearful moan. All his tough guy talk seeming to have evaporated the minute he actually got scared.

The voice came from a second robot who approached the gates and pushed them open, unlocking them with some sort of magnetic device that it had in its hand. The robot came forward through the gate, and zippy could see that it was definitely made to look female. She was made of highly polished chrome parts, all done in a curvy female shape except for the bottom. Instead of two legs she had a simple metal cone that ran down to a metal platform that was flanked on either side by two tires, smaller then Gortcha's but just as thick. Unlike Gortcha, this robot was wearing clothes; a leather security guard's uniform to be exact, along with a hat that made her resemble, more or less, a British traffic cop.

Zippy looked back and forth between the two of them, fascinated by what she was seeing. Although they looked primitive on the outside, their movements and articulation were far in advance of any robotics she'd ever seen before, and their A.I. had to extraordinary to create such life like personalities for each of them. Zippy had a strong urge to take both of them apart piece by piece and see how they were made, reverse engineer the robots and discover what made them tick. This was incredible work.

Gortcha rose, wiping his brow; a ridiculous gesture since a robot does not sweat, "Criminey, Vixen, don't do that to me. You scared the beejeezus out of me."

Vixen spoke with a high pitched soft voice, sounding a bit like a stereotypical teenie bopper on a sit com.

"Well what's all the commotion about . . ." Vixen asked, and the straitened up when she saw Zippy, "Jeepers! We have a visitor! Hello there, Miss. What's your name?"

"Hi, I'm Zippy. And I'm . . ." Zippy began.

Vixen suddenly clapped her hands together at the sound of Zippy's name, making a loud clanging noise, "Zippy?! Zippy Zipperdale!? Jeepers! Welcome! We've been expecting you. Jeepers!"

What the heck? Thought Zippy, and she said, "Huh? No, I've been dropped off at the wrong place. I'm supposed to be going to Coddswhollop, but my driver took me to the wrong school and then took off. I just need a phone so I can call another cab. My cell phone doesn't seem to work out here."

Vixen waved her hand, "Oh no, you belong here. Jeepers! Zippy Zipperdale: Zippendelka Asimov Zipperdale. Strait A student, daughter of Jasper and Melody Zipperdale of Sunnyvale, Washington, and older sister to Zachery Zipperdale, solid C minus student. We've been expecting your arrival today for months. Jeepers! Please follow me, and we'll get you settled."

The two robots began to move towards the building, leaving Zippy to hesitate for a second before grabbing her suitcase and running after them. She reached into a side pocket and pulled out her letter of acceptance to Coddswhollop Academy, running up behind Vixen and holding it out.

"No, listen, I'm not a student here, see?" She handed the letter to the robot who took it in her metal fingers, reading it over.

She then handed it back, "Yes, so what does that have to do with it?"

Zippy looked at the letter and let out a gasp of surprise: When she had received the letter, it had clearly been a letter of acceptance to Coddswhollop. But now, it quiet unmistakably read: "Miss Zippendelka "Zippy" Asimov Zipperdale, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Madame Petri's Academy For The Gifted And Eccentric. Please present this letter for admittance; we look forward to your attendance at our school."

Zippy stared; it had NOT said that yesterday. What in the world was going on here? Had it been replace somehow, and if so, when had it been done? She hurried after the robots, running around the fountain which she could now tell was not actually made of metal, but highly polished marble. The fountain seemed to be very old, much older then the school itself, and depicted six mermaids and six tritons (or mermen, if you prefer) rising out of the sea with their hands thrown out in a fashion that suggested the worship of something. From between the figures, the jets of water sprayed out in elaborate and spectacular patterns. Zippy tore her attention away from the fountain and followed after the robots, trying to come up with some logical explanation for what was happening.

"You don't understand," Zippy explained, "I'm at the wrong school."

"Not anymore." Vixen assured her.

The robots opened to front door of the building and ushered Zippy into a huge room, made in much the same style as the outside of the school. Couches and chairs sat here and there, and large metal stairs went up to balcony up above on either side of the room. There were doors on all three remaining walls, slightly oval on the corners, like submarine doors. There was a large fireplace on one wall, in which a fire burned warmly.

"Look, its not like you robots aren't cool and all," Zippy said, "And it's not like you haven't been nice, at least one half of you has . . ."

"Robots! Huh, shows what you know." Gortcha said indignantly, "The nerve of this one, calling us robots. Harumff! Stupid punk."

"What? Am I supposed to call you 'mechanical Americans'?" Zippy raised an eyebrow at them.

"No! We're Werx, girl!" Gortcha snarled, "We're called Werx!"

"'Works'? What's the difference?" Zippy asked.

Vixen replied, "Jeepers. We're BETTER robots."

Oh, of course. That made a world of difference.

"Listen," Zippy said, growing impatient, "Can you guys just show me to a phone so I can get out of here?"

"Get out of here? Jeepers!" Vixen exclaimed, "You can't leave, you signed a contract that guarantees that you will remain a student here until you graduate or until you expire, whichever comes first."

Zippy was incredulous over that statement, she recalled signing no such contract. She tried to keep her mind focused, there was obviously some reason why all this was happening, she just had to find it. She was about to ask some more questions of the Werks, but was distracted as another figure entering the room, this one most definitely human, a girl about the same age as Zippy.

Clasping her hands together, Vixen addressed the new girl, "Ah . . . Madoka. Just the person we need. Madoka, this is our new student, Zippy Zipperdale. Zippy, this is Madoka Matsura, one of our current residents."

"Hi." Zippy said.

"Hey, nice to metcha." Madoka said loudly.

Madoka was Japanese, about the same height as Zippy, with long black hair that she kept down over her shoulders. She pretty, possessing a round cheerful face, and a nicely curved figure that she seemed to take extra care to show off. She was dressed in what was apparently the school uniform: A navy blue long sleeved top with a white cuff running over the shoulders and across the top and duplicate cuffs on the end of each wide sleeve. A navy blue skirt, which Madoka had rolled at the waist to show off her legs more, matched the top, with a white trim at the bottom. She wore long black stockings on each feet that went up to her thighs. On each foot she wore simple navy blue leather shoes. Under the top, she seemed to wear a black tank top. A blue sash, white at each end, encircled her waist and was tied in a bow up front. A small shield shaped patch with what Zippy took to be the school logo adorned the upper left part of the top. Madoka had deliberately neglected the top two buttons on her blouse. Her breasts were fairly large, and Zippy felt an unwelcome twinge of jealousy.

Zippy chided herself: _For Pete's sake, grow up, Zippy!_

"Madoka, would you be a dear and show our new friend to her room, she'll be staying in 137G, with Lizzy." Vixen told her.

Madoka smiled and nodded, "Sure thing, Vix. Common, Zipper. I'll give ya' the fifty cent tour."

"It's Zippy." Zippy told her.

"Zippy the Zippmeister, so be it." Madoka chortled, "Okay, follow me."

Madoka opened the nearby door and led Zippy down a hallway, duplicate of most of the other parts of the school. Framed portraits of people lined the walls, seeming to increase in age the further down the hall they went, probably past students or past teachers. Zippy followed, playing along until she could find someone to help her. It wasn't a great plan, but it was the only one she had at the moment.

"So how's your first day at Petri's going so far, Zippa." Madoka asked over her shoulder.

"Zippy." Zippy corrected her, "And its been great, I got dropped off by cab driver who can't read a map, almost crushed by a wimpy artificial life form with no artificial intelligence whatsoever, and now I don't ever want to hear the word 'Jeepers' again as long as live. You know, the usual mish mash."

Madoka chuckled, "Hey, I like you, you're funny. And you're pretty, too, you're probably gonna land a lot of guys."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. And don't worry; there are plenty of cute guys here who aren't gay. Girl like you should snag a half dozen easy."

Was this a school or a dating service? Madoka made it sound like they were about to go to singles mixer.

"Listen, Madoka," Zippy interjected, "It's cool that you want to make be feel welcome and all, but I'm not staying. I'm not even supposed to be here."

"What do you mean?" Madoka looked back at her.

"There's been some kind of mix up; I'm supposed to be enrolled at Coddswhollop Academy. As soon as I can get this all straitened up and call another cab, or even flag down a pick up truck, I'll be on my way."

"Coddswhollop? Why would you want to go there?"

"Are you kidding? It's one of the most prestigious private academies in the world. It's a great honor to be accepted there."

"Awe, you've gotta be kidding me. Petri's is better; it's the elite of the elite. You learn things here they couldn't even dream of teaching you at Coddwhollop. You not only learn, but you DO. You create, and revolutionize, right here at the school. If you graduate here, you can pick out your dream job as soon as you've got your diploma. Hell, you can get rich before you even get your sheepskin. Coddwhollop would have to get on a ladder just to kiss this school's butt."

Zippy didn't reply; if half of what Madoka was saying was true, Madame Petri's did sound like an incredible educational opportunity. Maybe she shouldn't be so quick to dismiss this mix up. Madoka did make the school sound exciting.

Opening two large double doors at the end of the hall, Madoka said, "Welcome to Petri's."

The doors opened . . . onto what looked like complete chaos.

They walked out into some kind of central shaft, catwalks for each floor running around all four corners of the square shaft and crisscrossing to connect with each other. The shaft went up so high that Zippy could barely make out the ceiling up above, which seemed to be decorated with a huge crystal chandelier. Looking down, Zippy got dizzy as she saw that shaft went down so far she couldn't see the bottom at all. She stepped away from the banister, trying to get a hold of her sense of vertigo.

She glanced at Madoka, "Holy shit, how big is this place."

"Big." Madoka said, simply, "What you see on the outside is just the tip of the proverbial ice berg: The school goes far down underground and it spreads out, going under about half of Spirtwood Forrest out there. I've never seen all of it. I bet some of the teachers haven't either."

"Wow." Zippy muttered, looking over the towering shaft in amazement.

"Hey, Billy!" Madoka waved to a passing male student.

"Hey . . . Madoka." Billy replied, arriving at her name after a brief pause as if he wasn't sure who she was.

The male student uniform was similar to the female one: A black v neck golf shirt was worn under a navy blue jacket with white shoulders and cuffs, and navy blue pants with folded up white cuffs. A white belt was threaded around the waste, and an identical patch adorned the upper left side of the jacket.

Students seemed to be running everywhere, some carrying a number of strange contraptions. Zippy had trouble trying to take it all in at once: She saw devices she didn't recognize, and more then a few animals she didn't recognize either. A couple of boys came past her carrying a huge tank full of electric eels on either side. One girl ran past her with what appeared to be a chicken with three heads. What kind of school was this?

A small black haired boy walked past them. He had pale skin and a slight pinkish ring around his large wide bug like eyes. His face seemed stark and emotionless. Zippy found him a little creepy; the boy looked like a teenage Peter Lorre.

"Hi, Lorne." Madoka waved.

"Hello . . . Madoka." Lorne replied.

Lorne scurried off quickly without another word.

Madoka gestured for Zippy to follow her, and she quickly fell in next to her. Madoka gave a general tour of the place, which Zippy half listened to, distracted by the bizarre sights around her. Did that girl have a monkey head in that jar? And why did it seem to be still alive? Her attention was suddenly distracted by a boy shooting up from one of the lower levels, flying through the air by means of a jet pack strapped to his back. There was the low roar of the engine as he shot past them and up to one of the upper floors. In the wake of the twin jets, the updraft caused many of skirts worn by the female students fly up, resulting in panty shots a plenty. Girls giggled and blushed as they quickly held their skirts down, laughing. Madoka smoothed her skirt out as she greeted another guy, who once again had to look her over before he knew who she was.

As Madoka kept moving, Zippy followed her. Madoka pointed out various items of interest, although it seemed to Zippy that every other item she pointed out was a guy that she thought was cute. It looked like Madoka was interested in anyone who happened to come equipped with a Y chromosome. In short, Madoka was boy crazy. Though, at first glace, it looked like everyone here was one kind of crazy or another.

Another robot walked by, turning into a door and disappearing, this one seemed of a simpler design, fully anthropomorphic, with legs and feet, and it reminded Zippy a little of the metal Cylons from the new Battlestar Galactica. As soon as it was gone, another one came out of a different door and passed them going the other way. Zippy pursed her lips; this was robotic engineering she'd never seen before outside of a science fiction movie. Looking around, she spotted more of them. Most of them resembled the cylon ones, but a few were of different design.

"What's with all the metal heads?" She asked Madoka.

Madoka smiled, "Those are the Werx: W-E-R-X. There's tons of them, they take care of all the general work, grounds keeping, house keeping, that sort of thing. They were built right here in the school, by Madame Petri's mother, although they've been improved a lot over the years. The general ones only have a limited AI, but, you've met Gortcha and Vixen, a lot of the more advanced Werx have full artificial personalities that you can interact with. Even though you probably don't want to in Gortcha's case."

"They're amazing. I've never seen engineering like that." Zippy gushed.

"You'll see plenty more amazing things here." Madoka smiled.

Zippy was led to a wide platform with guardrails on all four sides, the platform accessed through a small gate in the front. Madoka got on and Zippy followed, pulling her suitcase along with her.

Once she was on, Madoka said, "Hang on."

"Why?" Zippy asked, and suddenly became aware that her feet seemed to be held to the platform by some invisible force, "Hey, I can't move my feet."

"They have to be held there so you don't fly off." Madoka explained.

"What . . . ?" Zippy started to ask.

All at once, the platform lurched upwards at a rapid velocity like a jet taking off. Zippy screamed in shock and terror as her guts seemed to pool up in stomach. The platform rocketed up the side of the wall at well over eighty miles per hour, and then came to a screeching halt several floors above, jolting Zippy and causing her teeth to clack together painfully.

Zippy cried, "What . . . Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Zippy screamed again as the platform lurched and then rocketed sideways to the right, moving at incredible velocity around the walls of the shaft. Zippy's hair flew out to her left, whipping in the wind caused by their sudden sideways movement. She felt like she was gonna puke any moment as the platform raced around the walls like some ungodly cross between an elevator and a roller coaster. At any second, Zippy expected to feel herself flying off the platform, but her feet stuck firm.

"Yeeee Haaaaa!" Madoka cried, holding her hands over her head excitedly.

The platform lurched to a halt with another violent shake next a large set of doors, causing Zippy's head to snap painfully. It was a wonder she didn't have whiplash. There was a hum as the platform powered down and stopped entirely.

"We're here." Madoka said.

"Eeber eeber yabble." Was all Zippy could say as her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

"Come one, Zipp-a-di doo dah, it's this way." Madoka tugged on her arm.

"Gahhh! What the hell was that?" Zippy cried, finding her voice again.

"Much faster and more fun then the stairs." Madoka replied.

Pulling the frazzled Zippy along, Madoka led her along the catwalk, stopping every so often to say hello to someone. Every time there was that peculiar pause as they tried to remember who they were talking too, a fact that didn't seem to bother Madoka at all, but had Zippy more then a little curious. As Madoka walked she pointed out this or that to Zippy, although Zippy noticed that ever other item of interest was still a guy Madoka thought was hot. Definitely a little boy crazy, Zippy thought to herself with a smile.

As if on cue, Madoka grabbed Zippy's arm and excitedly gestured in one particular direction, "Ooo! Ooo! Look there, look there. See that guy? That Gerald Driver, everyone calls him 'Flash'. He's the star Gravity Ball player here."

Zippy glanced at the tall, lean and muscular student Madoka had pointed out. He was chatting with some other students, almost strutting along as he did. He had brown hair, brushed back in some kind of wave that didn't seem to leave a strand out of place, and lean chiseled features that looked like he'd never had a pimple. He was carrying quantum physics and advanced calculus books. He seemed brainy and intelligent, yet still like a typical jock off at the same time.

"He's so cool!" Madoka gushed in a high squeal.

Part of Zippy wanted to role her eyes, but then again, she could see why Madoka was so taken with the guy. Cool, confident and athletic, not really Zippy's type, but she could easy imagine why he'd be someone else's.

And then, Zippy suddenly stopped dead.

Zippy was not given to sudden impulsive behavior all that much, but now she had suddenly frozen in place, because out of one of the doors had come the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. It wasn't that he was really handsome, or really athletic or well dressed or cool. It was more something indefinable about the overall package.

The guy had thick wavy light brown hair that he kept short and parted on one side. He had large deep blue eyes and slight peach color to his skin. There was a little bit of freckling over his nose and under the eyes, but very unobtrusive. His face was handsome, cute without looking like he was cut out of a magazine. He wore large round glasses similar to Zippy's, and had no piercings that Zippy could see. He was not tall, although taller a bit then Zippy, and seemed to have lean build under his uniform. No bulging fat, but no bulging muscle either. He seemed, for all intents of purposes, to be the consummate bookworm. The kind of boy Zippy was always attracted to.

He walked out of the door, and stopped and glanced at Zippy. When he saw her staring at him, he smiled a line of strait white teeth.

Zippy's heart fluttered in her chest, her blood surged through her veins, causing her to feel a little light headed. All manner of hormones and pheromones kicked in as a delightful giddiness flowed over Zippy at the sight of that smile. In no short order, Zippy was completely spellbound by the unknown boy.

And just like that, he was gone, disappearing into another doorway, leaving Zippy not even sure she had seen him at all. She stared for a second, before Madoka's beckoning wave called her away, her face still flushed and her heart still pounding. She kept looking back over her shoulder at the door the Unknown Boy had entered. Zippy didn't really believe in 'love at first sight', but she really couldn't deny the way she'd felt when she'd seen him.

_Get a grip, Zippy_.

She tore her eyes away and moved towards where Madoka was leading her. She was taken to a pair of large doors with a sign over it that read "Girl's Dorm G". Madoka pushed them open and Zippy followed after her. They entered a wide hallway that went off into the distance before splitting into two wings. Despite the fact that it was the girl's dorm, Zippy noticed a lot of male students wandering around. When she asked about it, Madoka told her that there was plenty of privacy in the rooms, so no one cared about guys in the halls. The dorm area had wood paneling and carpeted floors, framed paintings decorating the walls and cushioned benches on both sides to rest on. The whole effect was less metallic and more inviting then the rest of the school.

Five students ran past them carrying a giant boa constrictor that seemed to have a head on each end.

As Zippy followed her guide she passed a despondent looking girl sitting on one of the benches, another girl patting her on the shoulders trying to console her. The girl was black, with wavy brown hair spilling down over her shoulders and wide brown eyes. She was very pretty, with round features and a wide but unobtrusive nose on her face.

"I can't believe he'd do this to me. I mean, of all the things, what am I supposed to do now?" She moaned.

"I know, Sharon, I know. But you're just going to have to deal with it. Pick yourself up and get back on the horse." Her friend suggested.

The fried was a short, chubby girl with stark black hair worn back behind her head. She patted Sharon's shoulders emphatically.

"Easy for you to say." Sharon exclaimed angrily, "You don't have to learn how to walk on these."

The girl stuck her legs out and Zippy noticed with shock that at the end of her legs, instead of feet, Sharon had large hands, complete with fingers dangling there. Zippy suppressed a gasp as she saw them.

Sharon hissed angrily, "No good lousy bastard!"

The sight was so bizarre, so completely unnatural, that Zippy couldn't help herself. She liked to think of herself as above this sort of thing, but when it came down to it, she was no different then anyone at the scene of a horrific road accident. She just stared and gawked as she walked by, unable to tear her eyes away from the poor girl's extra hands. So transfixed by the sight was she, that she didn't see the boy in front of her until she had run right into him.

She clumsily plowed right into the male student, slamming into him so hard that he released a gasp of surprise. He staggered back wards, looking his balance. Zippy cried out and tried to jump forward and grab him, but he stumbled back and fell completely over, landing painfully on his rear end with a disquieting slap.

The boy was about Zippy's age, and had a mane of wavy black hair on his head. He had a long round face, with wide, stunning blue eyes. He was short, actually a little shorter then Zippy, but broad shouldered. His uniform seemed excessively neat and pressed.

"Ow! What the hell?!" The boy cried angrily.

A girl behind, a blonde with a particularly curvy figure, gasped and ran to him in alarm, "Cristobel! Are you okay?"

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry!" Zippy apologized reaching down to help Cristobel up.

Instead of taking her hand, Cristobel angrily smacked it away, his lip curling in a sneer.

"Get your filthy hands off me, bitch." He hissed at her.

Zippy was taken aback by the attitude. It had been, after all, only an accident. Cristobel was clinging to a large metal box he had in his hands, which he cradled with care. It must have been something important, a project or assignment. No wonder he was mad. He was flanked by two other girls, and one boy. The boy had dark skin, thick black hair that he parted to one side and thick eyebrows over a hawkish hooked nose.

"Woah, take it easy, Cristobel." The other boy said, "It was just an accident, you're not hurt are you?"

"Really, I'm very sorry." Zippy apologized again.

Cristobel stood up, "Stupid is what you are. Stupid and clumsy and now your sorry too."

"Hey, I already apologized." Zippy felt her face growing hot.

"You've probably had your whole life to apologize for, so what's a little extra now going to matter?" Cristobel sneered, his lip mouth curling at the end.

"Cris, don't do this, take it easy . . ." The other boy started, but was interrupted.

"Who the hell are you, anyways?" Cristobel started, "Oh, wait: You're that new girl. Zipperdale, isn't it? Another little girl coming here to try to play in a man's world."

Zippy bristled, "Excuse me?"

Cristobel spat at her contemptuously, "You women, always trying to pretend your equal to men, but in the end all you're good for is to be at the feet of a strong man: Cooking his meals and pumping out his heirs."

Zippy raised an eyebrow, "Did I just go through a time warp and end up in the forties? Who the hell fed you that load of garbage?"

"Science is a man's game, little girl." Cristobel said, "You just go home a play with your dollies and leave the real science to your betters, okay?"

And with that, Cristobel turned and walked off with a sardonic laugh. The three girls all fell in behind him, following him as he walked, each one trying to outdo the other with the amount of their concern for his possible injuries. The other boy mouthed a quick 'I'm sorry' in Zippy's direction, and then followed after the rest with a sigh. Zippy stood where she was, furious. She gritted her teeth in annoyance, getting her nerves under control.

"Who the hell was that?" She asked Madoka.

"Cristobel Bell." Madoka explained, "He's a strait A student, a scientific genius, and a world class pain in ass. He's the heir to the Bell family fortune; they're an old school males in charge family: The men rule everything and the women obey, and you saw that Cristobel's no different. You see those three Barbies attached to him like barnacles? Amber, Tiffany, and Charity: They're the top three of a whole troupe of groupies that follow him everywhere and do whatever he tells them."

Zippy snorted, "Why would they like him, he's a sexist schmuck?"

"They don't like him," Madoka chuckled, "They like his money. The Bell family fortune is huge, and Cristobel stands to inherit enough money to buy this whole school three times over. Each one of them hopes to be the one who marries into the Bell fortune, so they put up with him in hopes of getting it."

Zippy rolled her eyes: That was just pathetic.

Madoka went on, "See that other guy that was with them? That's Kevin Crowsfeet; he's been Cristobel's best friend since grade school. He's actually a really nice guy, I don't know why he stays friends with Bell, but he seems to thing there's some redeeming qualities buried in there somewhere."

Madoka led her down the hall, making a left and finally stopping at a door marked 137. It was a standard dark brown wood door, with the number in brass metal numbers on the front.

"Well, here you are." Madoka told her, "Someone'll come up with your uniform, books and class schedule. And then later a teacher'll come by to take to you get registered with the Vice Principle."

Madoka knocked on the door, and then opened it without waiting for a response. She went in and Zippy followed her. Zippy gasped at the spacious room, opulently designed in old world décor, featuring four beds, desks, and wardrobes, a plush rich carpet, and what looked like a big HD TV on the far wall. Another girl sat a one of the desks, working at a computer. There were top of the line computers on each of the desks.

"Hey, Lizzy." Madoka said cheerfully, "I brought you your new roommate. I'll leave you two to get acquainted."

Madoka quickly left as Lizzy turned around. Zippy suppressed another gasp as she saw her: Lizzy had long black wavy hair that she'd tied part of up high on either side of her head. The rest of it spilled down over her shoulders like a waterfall, partially curly from top to bottom. She had a long shield shaped face and a small nose. Her skin was excessively pale, as if she hadn't ever been out in the sun. She reminded Zippy of those blind albino fish that lived deep in caves and never saw the light of day. She had deep set serious looking hazel eyes, and wore black finger nail polish. Zippy noticed that Lizzy had tied her hair with ties decorated with little bats, and silver skull earrings hung from both her ears. She was a little taller the Zippy, and her face seemed to be fixed in a neutral expression, her thin lips decorated with black lipstick. She reminded Zippy of some lost member of the Adams family, like some kind of odd cross between Morticia and Wednesday.

Shoving her suitcase aside, having no intention of unpacking it here, she smiled politely and reached a hand out to Lizzy.

She introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Zippy. Zippindelka Asimov Zipperdale, but please call me Zippy, it's less of a mouth full."

Lizzy took Zippy's hand and shook it, her skin feeling a little cold.

Lizzy spoke in a low emotionless monotone, "Lizzy Malaria. Elizabeth Bathory Borden Malaria, actually, but everyone calls me Lizzy, as my name, also, is quite the mouthful. A pleasure to meet you, Zippy."

If Lizzy was actually pleased, it was very hard to tell because of the stoic, droning way she talked.

Zippy shook her hand, "Pleased to meet you, Lizzy. Malaria, huh? That's an . . . unusual family name?"

"The family changed it in the eighteenth century." Lizzy replied.

"Oh, okay . . . just a second: They changed it TO Malaria?" Zippy asked incredulously.

"It used to be Herpes." Lizzy said.

Yikes, Zippy thought. If Lizzy was kidding, she gave no indication of it. She must play one hell of a game of poker. What sort of weird loony bin had Zippy found herself in? Zippy moved over an empty chair and sat down, taking a load off. She eyed her companion curiously, but shivered when she found Lizzy unabashedly looking her over; studying her like one would specimen under a microscope. It almost seemed like she wasn't blinking, her wide hazel eyes boring into Zippy with interest and curiosity.

"I approve of you." Lizzy finally said at last, "I believe you will fit in well. I'm glad you're here."

Zippy smiled, "Thanks, but don't get too glad; I'm not staying. There's been some kind of mistake and I'm at the wrong school. As soon as I can get this sorted out and get a cab, I'm out of here."

When Lizzy slightly, almost imperceptivity slumped, Zippy was a little surprised. It seemed like the strange girl was disappointed.

"That's a shame." Lizzy said with no perceptible change in her tone of voice, "I like you. I was hoping we could be friends. Friends are very important here, you know."

"Awe, you just met me, Lizzy." Zippy chided her with warm smile, "How could you like me already."

"I'm a good judge of people." Lizzy insisted, "Plus I googled you as soon as I found out the name of my new room mate. You're brilliant and innovative, maybe the smartest person we've had in the school."

"I doubt that." Zippy giggled, blushing a little at the boost to her intellectual vanity, "I've seen things here that made my head spin already."

"I still think you can be the best." Lizzy said firmly, "As a bonus, it will be nice to have a top student who's not a chauvinistic throwback to the dark ages."

"Cristobel? I already met him." Zippy said.

There was a pause, and they both burst out laughing. Lizzy had a wide Cheshire cat smile that displayed unusually long canine teeth. For one terrible, comic moment, Zippy thought they were fangs. She kicked herself for the thought: Lizzy might be a Goth chick, but she was no vampire. They began to chat a little about science, and what Lizzy had been working on before Zippy entered. Zippy found herself fascinated by Lizzy's ideas and quickly saw that Lizzy was perfectly open to her own.

Upon spying some DVDs that Lizzy had lying around, Zippy made another connection with the strange girl: A shared love of horror film old and new. Conversation quickly went on to analyzing the works of Terrance Fisher, Roger Corman, and Mario Bava, and the acting prowess of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.

_God help me_, Zippy thought, _I like this girl_.

Their conversation was interrupted when suddenly there came a tapping, as if someone was gently rapping at their chamber door.

"It's open." Lizzy called.

The door opened and Madoka re-entered the room, carrying clothes and a stack of books in her arms. Zippy frowned: It was definitely Madoka, but she looked totally different; her hair was now pulled back in a ponytail, not loose and free like it had been before, and her skirt was now let down to its normal length, the top buttons of her blouse now firmly connected. The whole uniform seemed smoothed down and neater then it had been a few minutes ago. She came in and set her burden down on one of the beds.

"Hi, Lizzy." She said in a tiny, quiet voice.

"Greetings." Lizzy replied.

She then turned to Zippy and gave a polite Japanese bow, "And you must be Zippy?"

"Uh, yeah, I must." Zippy said, perplexed at the behavior.

"I'm Rina Matsura. It's very nice to meet you." She said bowing again.

Zippy was puzzled for a second, and then smiled to herself: This must be Madoka's twin sister. Twins; that would explain a lot, especially the way everyone seemed to have trouble at first knowing who Madoka was. Zippy could relate, she could never tell the Olsen Twins apart.

Gesturing towards the items she'd brought with her hand, Rina said, "I've brought all the text books you're going to need for the semester, and that sheet in the top one contains your schedule of classes. I've also brought you your uniform, please change into it and a teacher will come by to take to the vice principle's office."

Zippy waved her off, "You can take them back, I'm not staying. There's been some kind of mix up. Soon as I can talk to this vice principle I'll get this all cleared up."

"Oh." Rina said, "Well, I was just told to bring them to you. You'll have to put on the uniform anyways if you want to talk to the vice principle. He won't see you dressed like that."

Zippy grimaced, she didn't really want to get dressed up, she just wanted to get out of here and get where she was supposed to be.

"So, you must be Madoka's sister, huh?" She asked Rina.

Rina's reaction was strange: She gasped in alarm and blushed, turning a bright shade of pink.

"Y-you . . . you've m-met Madoka?" She stuttered nervously.

Confused again, Zippy said, "Yeah, she showed me to this room."

Rina's pink face turned red and she fumbled with the bottom of her blouse nervously, turning her head and not meeting Zippy's eyes.

"Oh no. She uh . . . she didn't do anything . . . crazy or . . . perverted; did she?" Rina asked nervously, whispering the word 'perverted'.

"Naw, she just pointed out ever guy in the building she though was hot." Zippy chuckled, "Good taste actually."

"Oh good." Rina breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm so sorry. You see, Madoka isn't my sister . . . she's me."

"Come again?" Zippy asked, hoping some kind of better explanation was forthcoming.

Rina looked down at the floor, her hands touching her fingers together in embarrassment, one of her feet absently moving on the ground, "My parents are involved in computer science. And my father was creating a VR dating simulation, with fully realized self aware artificial intelligence. Real thinking feeling computerized people living in cyberspace. He tested it out on me, just had me enter the game and interact with various characters, and something went wrong. There was some kind of power surge, and the game went haywire, and somehow, the AI I was talking to at the time was loaded completely into my brain. And that was Madoka, and we've been stuck sharing the same body ever since."

She paused and added, "It's been very hard: Madoka's so . . . uninhibited. But we've worked things out; we communicate by leaving messages for each other on my cell phone or on my laptop."

Zippy could barely believe what she was hearing, "That sounds a little . . . crowded."

Rina nodded, "We switch randomly, with no control over it, so I can't tell you the number of embarrassing situations I've found myself in. Once, I came to singing karaoke in front of the whole dorm . . . in my underwear."

Unable to help herself, Zippy giggled while Rina blushed, "I'm sure it was a treat for the guys. You must have been pretty popular after that."

Rina flushed a little more, grinning and then turned and scurried out of the room, looking at the floor.

Lizzy went back to her work, "You'd better change, the teacher should be here any second."

Zippy sighed and pulled her shoes off by stepping on them with her feet and raising her leg. She pulled off her shirt and then sat on the bed, yanking off her jeans. She rose and folded both articles of clothing neatly on the bed; sure she was going to be putting them back on shortly. She walked over to the uniform, reaching for it, and then noticed the list of classes sitting on top of the books. She narrowed her eyes looking at the class names: What the hell?

"Robotic Weaponry—Miss Gojira

Genetic Manipulation—Mr. DeSade

Experimental Surgery and Body Part Transplantation—Miss Piranha

Aquatic Mutations—Mr. Carcharias

Death Ray Construction—Mr. Ecoli

Doomsday Theory—Mr. Gorgonzola

Artificial Life Form Creation—Mrs. Variola

Physical Augmentation—Miss Anvil

Zombie Creation, Breeding, and Defense—Mrs. Fulci

The list went on and on.

Glancing over at the text books she saw titles like "The Joy Of Unnecessary Surgery", "Building And Maintaining Your Killer Robot: A Sensible Guide", "Bringing About Armageddon In Twelve Easy Steps: Practical Applications" and "The Big Book Of The Dead: Everything You Need To Know About Raising Your Zombies". Zippy practically staggered back, staring at what was on the bed. What kind of school teaches you to build a killer robot? What sort of text books where these? Hell, what kind of classes was she being expected to take?

"What . . . What with all this?" Zippy cried, "This . . . this is like . . . some kind of school for mad scientists!"

Lizzy nodded, "Yeah, that's about the size of it."

Zippy lost her footing and fell to the floor with a resounding, if painful, thud.

"What? How is that possible?" Zippy cried, scrambling back to her feet.

Lizzy shrugged, "It's been this way for a long time. Nothing worthwhile gets invented unless someone is willing to risk it all on their ideas. This school teaches people to do just that: Advance science without worrying about anything else."

"That's insane!" Zippy said, "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yeah, this place can be dangerous." Lizzy agreed, "But you can do things here that you can't do anywhere else. Graduating from here means that you are almost guaranteed to be extraordinary."

"What if you don't graduate?" Zippy asked suspiciously.

"Usually that means you died, somehow." Lizzy explained, "Once you're signed to the school, you don't leave until you graduate. Most people don't slack off though, if your grades suffer too much, you end up 'volunteering' for one of Madame Petri's private experiments; and the results of those can be . . . inconvenient. My last roommate lost all four of her limbs, she's in a special needs class now elsewhere in the school."

"You're kidding! You've got to be kidding! Please tell me that you're kidding!" Zippy babbled, the blood draining from her face.

"I'm not." Lizzy replied, "When students get desperate for good marks, it's not uncommon for them to kidnap one another for their projects."

"Wait!" Zippy interjected, "Be kind; rewind: They don't get in trouble for that?"

Zippy was sure that was the sort of thing that should get a student expelled. But maybe not at this mental institution disguised as a school.

"You've got to understand, Zippy," Lizzy explained, "In Madame Petri's, its all about the results. Nobody cares how you achieved something, as long as you achieve it. When it comes to the experiments, there are very few rules. Killing your subject gets you an F, so most people take care to keep you alive. That's why it's so important to make friends and alliances; you need someone to watch your back here."

Zippy stared at Lizzy's pale features, "You sure seem to take it calm."

Again, Lizzy shrugged, "That's life at Madam Petri's: Lots of risk, but also lots of reward."

"This Madam Petri must be something else." Zippy commented dryly.

"So I'm told." Lizzy agreed, not acknowledging the sarcasm, "I hear she's very beautiful."

"Huh? You've never seen her?"

"Nope, most of the students haven't. I hear she used to be very involved in the school, but now she leaves everything to Mr. Innsmouth. He's . . . not beautiful."

There was a long silence while Zippy digested this, and then she grabbed the uniform off the bed and rapidly began dressing as fast as she could. She was going to go to that Vice Principle's office, get this all sorted out, and get the living hell out of this nightmare before somebody decided to splice her with an iguana. She had barely finished dressing when the door was knocked upon again.

This time a tall woman came into the room. She was deathly pale, like Lizzy, although obviously much older, late twenties at least. She had wide brown eyes, and frizzy wild black hair that was tied up high on either side of her head. She was dressed in a long black skin tight leather dress that clung to her voluptuous figure, the neckline low cut and exposing copious amounts of her ample cleavage. She wore long elbow length leather gloves on each arm. The dress was slit up both legs all the way to the thigh, and she wore long knee length high heeled leather boots, with heels so high they might have well have been stilts. She came into the room, smiling excitedly, her heels clacking on the floor through the carpeting.

Lizzy looked up at her, "Hello, Miss Piranha."

Miss Piranha ran over to Lizzy, hugging her warmly, giggling with bubbling enthusiasm, "Why, hello, Lizzy! How's my little Frankenstein doing?"

"I'm good." Lizzy said.

Letting her go, Miss Piranha turned to Zippy, a wide grin splitting her face, her hand shaking in front of her in exhilaration, "And you must be Zippendelka! Oh, it's so nice to meet you. Everyone's been so excited about your arrival. Oh, and your so cute I just want to eat you up."

She reached over and squished Zippy's cheeks cheerfully with her latex covered hands. Zippy pried her hands off, feeling her cheeks burn a little where Miss Piranha had pinched her.

Miss Piranha gushed and giggled, "Oh, such a young fresh mind! So full of wonder and potential.

She grabbed Zippy and hugged her tight, smothering Zippy's face in her massive breasts. Zippy's cries were muffled in Miss Piranha's amble bosom as the older woman hugged her with gusto. Zippy wasn't usually prone to embarrassment, but she turned a bright shade of pink finding her face squished with thick cleavage on either side of her face. To make matters worse, she couldn't breathe. For a horrible moment, she thought was going to smothered to death by Miss Piranha's enthusiasm: An image of a tombstone labeled "Here lies Zippy, who suffocated in her teacher's womanhood" flashed comically through her head, along with a newspaper headline: "Brilliant student killed by cleavage". Finally, the woman let go of her. Zippy drew in a large gulp of much needed oxygen.

Miss Piranha said, "I'm Miss Piranha, and I teach Experimental Surgery And Body Part Transplantation. I'll be taking you to get signed in with Mr. Innsmouth, the Vice Principle. Please follow me, my cute little Frankenstein."

Then she cocked her head, "Oh my, do you have a nose bleed, Miss Zipperdale?"

Turning red, Zippy grabbed a Kleenex off the desk and wiped away the trickle of blood.

Zippy stared up at Miss Piranha: Could this really be a teacher? What sort of educator dressed like that for class? She looked more like a fetish model then an instructor.

She quickly followed the strange teacher as she waved her forward. They entered the dorm tunnels and then went all the way around through some twisting corridors. As Miss Piranha led her, she talked to Zippy, giving her a general overview of the school.

"Madam Petri's was founded a long time ago by the current Madam Petri's great great grandmother." Miss Piranha lectured, "Since then, the school had expanded greatly and we turn out more unrestricted scientists then any other school, making us the most sought after educational facility in the world. And you've been accepted to it, doesn't that make you proud?"

Zippy opened her mouth the repeat again that this was some kind of mistake and that she wasn't staying, but gave up and just nodded. A girl with cat ears and a tail ran past them distracting Zippy for a minute.

"In any event," Miss Piranha said, with bubbling enthusiasm, "The school is constantly expanding. It's a tradition of each headmistress; ever since work started on it so many years ago, construction has never stopped. There's always something new getting built somewhere. That's why nobody really knows every part of the school, and why there are a few odd touches like stairs going nowhere, and doors opening up to two story drops and stuff like that."

Zippy blinked, "It's like the Winchester Mansion?"

"Oh yes," Miss Piranha agreed, "Most definitely like the Winchester Mansion."

Great, Zippy thought to herself, Sarah Winchester probably had something in common with the woman who ran this place: They were both nuts.

Miss Piranha continued, "I've been so excited ever since I found out that you were coming, Miss Zipperdale. I checked out your file, and you're test scores are off the charts. You're just an extra brainy bundle of cuteness. I think we can expect good things from you, Zippendelka. Oh, may I call you Zippendelka?"

"I prefer Zippy, actually." Zippy told her.

"'Zippy'!" Miss Piranha clapped her hands together, "Ohhhhh! That's so cute! Anyways, our school is fully stocked, and state of the art. There are plenty of recreational facilities, and there's even a town nearby that has a club that the students like to frequent in their off time called The Manhattan Project. I'm sure you're gonna work hard and have a good time her, Zippy. And if you need anything, just ask."

For a split second, Zippy jumped back, afraid Miss Piranha was going to smother her in her cleavage again, but nothing happened. As they walked, Miss Piranha continued to talk and explain things like a hummingbird on crack. In spite of all this, Zippy found her friendly and approachable, despite the fact that as far as Zippy could tell, Miss Piranha was completely ethically bankrupt. In spite of herself, Zippy found that she liked this strange hyperactive woman.

Another student ran past them; she was about Zippy's height, maybe a little smaller. What struck Zippy the most was the pale, almost chalk white color of her skin, not to mention her hair, which was long, strait and beyond platinum blonde. Lizzy and Miss Piranha had nothing on this girl, she was white as a corpse In fact, Zippy was sure that her hair was completely white like an old woman's.. The girl was, however, as young as she was. Her eyes were light, and almost a slight grey color, slightly bloodshot.

"Why, hello, Eve!" Miss Piranha waved.

"Hi, Miss Piranha." The girls said as she rushed by in a high, but quiet voice that sounded almost like a hiss, with a distinct English accent.

As the girl ran off, Zippy looked after her, "I she an albino?"

"No." Miss Piranha answered matter of factly, "She's a vampire."

Zippy lost her balance again and fell to the floor on that one. What the hell? And why had Miss Piranha stated in such a calm no big deal way?

"You're kidding!" Zippy exclaimed, rubbing the bump where she'd hit her head when she fell over.

"It happened in an experiment using gene therapy derived from _Desmodus rotundu, Diphylla ecaudata_ and _Diaemus youngi_, among other animals."

"The three species of vampire bat."

"Exactly. The goal was to alter a person to be as close to the mythological vampire as possible. Eve was the result. A+ work there: She has fangs, drinks blood in the dining hall, shuns the light, sleeps in a coffin in the bell tower; the whole nine yards.

"You don't say." Zippy muttered, wondering if Eve had actually volunteered for this procedure.

"Oh, you'll meet her." Miss Piranha told her, "She's good friends with Lizzy."

"That . . . makes sense." Zippy said, not sharing Miss Piranha's enthusiasm for palling around with a live blood drinking vampire.

The sooner she got out of here; Zippy thought, the better. This was nuts, why would anyone want to create a real life vampire? To what end, and of what possible use could she be?

They finally arrived at a large pair of old style wooden doors, covered with intricate carvings depicting mermaids and various sea life. A large brass plaque on the front read, "Vice Principle Innsmouth". Miss Piranha knocked on the door, and after a few minutes, there was a low voice from within.

"Enter." The voice said deep and foreboding, with a proper English accent.

With one hand, Miss Piranha opened the door and entered, with Zippy following right behind. The room was dark and under lit, and Zippy shivered at the colt temperature of the chamber. The place was practically freezing. The room was oval in shape, very large and was filled on all sides by book shelves filled with old books. At the far end was a huge window, looking out over the school courtyard. A huge wooden desk was right in front of it, and two chairs sat directly in front of that. There was a large bear rung in front of the desk. As they got closer to the desk, Zippy noticed a strange sculpture sitting on top of it, depicting a strange half man, half fish creature covered in scales, fins and tentacles. The figure it represented was incredibly ugly and appallingly grotesque, sending a shiver of revulsion through Zippy's body.

A tall figure stood at the window, with his back to the door. He was huge, easily over six feet tall.

"Mr. Innsmouth?" Miss Piranha said, "I've brought Miss Zipperdale for her registration."

The man turned and Zippy could now see him fully. He cut an imposing figure and not just because of his height: He had long white hair the hung down to his neck, and a long intense face. His eyes were deep sunk in his skull, surrounded by dark circles as if he never slept. His nose was long and hooked in a manner that suggested a bird of prey. His lips were drawn tight in a thin line. A thick goatee decorated his chin, the hairs a mix of white and dark grey. He was dressed in a long black double breasted coat and black pants. He stared at Zippy with those intense eyes that seemed to bore into her.

"Ah yes, our new student." Mr. Innsmouth said, his voice was deep and sinister, "Come on in, Miss Zipperdale. Let us get you properly signed in and registered."

He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a large thick file which he placed on the desk and opened up.

Miss Piranha whispered in Zippy's ear, "Don't be afraid if he seems stern; it's just his way. He's even like that with me."

She then turned and walked out, her stiletto heels clacking on the floor noisily, closing the door behind herself, which only partially dulled the noise of her boots.

Zippy stepped forward, "Um, if you please, sir? I think there's been some kind of mistake. I'm not supposed to be enrolled at this school. I've never applied here, and actually I've never heard of this place before. I'm supposed to be going to Coddswhollop Academy, but the driver took me here by mistake. I really like to just get to a phone so I can clear this up and be on my way."

The cold, angry expression that Mr. Innsmouth shot at her made Zippy cringe. He leveled his eyes at her in an irritated, offended manner.

"I believe that it is you, Miss Zipperdale, who are mistaken." He said slowly, "We have had you enrolled on file as a forthcoming student for months now. We have been expecting your arrival."

"But I've never even heard of this school . . ." Zippy began, and was cut off by Mr. Innsmouth handing her a paper.

"I believe, Miss Zipperdale, that this is you signature?" He said coldly.

Zippy looked at the document and gasped. It was her signature all right. In fact, the bottom of this contract was the one she's signed to be enrolled at Coddswhollop. But the contract itself was entirely new: Enrolling her at the school until graduation, with no provisions for changing schools or leaving. There was even a clause that absolved the school for any liability should she die or become injured. She read over the contract, and gnawing feeling of dread clawing at the inside of her stomach.

"But . . . but this is insane! I didn't sign this!" Zippy protested.

"Miss Zipperdale!" Mr. Innsmouth snapped, "It is not wise to make me unhappy."

Zippy cringed, backing up a bit.

Mr. Innsmouth continued, "You are free to call an attorney, of course, but I can assure you, that contract will hold up in any court. You are ours, until you graduate, Miss Zipperdale, so you are well advised to get used to the idea. You will find it is not in your best interests to . . . disappoint or upset me."

Zippy said nothing, staring at Mr. Innsmouth with wide terrified eyes, her heart pounding in her chest with fear and confusion.

Mr. Innsmouth seemed to soften a bit, "You can do great things here, Miss Zipperdale. And make no mistake; you are an exceptional young woman. It's no mistake that you've been accepted. Here, you will do and see things that very few people in the world ever will. It is an honor, privilege, and an advantage to be accepted at Madame Petri's.

"Haven't you ever wondered about the spectacular scientific advances of recent years in the world? It's because people like us have crated place for ourselves to work undisturbed and uninhibited for the advancement of science. In places we have set aside for ourselves, we can work for the progression of knowledge without fear of harassment from the ignorant herd of people that make up most of the world. School's such as this one, train the next generations of unrestrained scientists.

"As an extra advantage, I will point out to you that here at Petri's; any and all inventions developed by the students are automatically patented in their names. If you really are as exceptional as you are supposed to be, and not the impertinent little trouble maker you seem like now, then you stand to be quite wealthy by the time you graduate, assuming you don't perish before that time."

Mr. Innsmouth stood up and turned his back on her, looking at the window. Zippy's mind was struggling to catch up. She could barely believe what she being told.

"You may, of course, contact your parents, but I can assure you young lady, you are a student here until you graduate." Mr. Innsmouth said, "You would be well advised to strive to do your best. But if you don't . . . well, Madam Petri can always use another subject.

"You may go now, feel free to explore the school. We expect you at dinner in the dining hall at six o'clock. Good day, Miss. Zipperdale. I hope you don't disappoint us."

It was a few seconds before Zippy realized that she was being dismissed. Numb she turned around without a word and left the office.

Instead of heading back to the dorm room, she wandered the halls, keeping a mental map of where she was. It was very rare that Zippy ever got lost, her photographic memory serving her well in this regard. She thought about what had just happened. Unlike most girls her age, Zippy knew her way around a legal contract. She had once considered going to law school. Mr. Innsmouth had been telling the truth, that contract was binding. In all likelihood, she was stuck in this loony bin. But how? How had this come to be. She was certain she hadn't ever seen that contract before, let alone sign it, so how had her signature gotten on the bottom? And why, for what purpose?

She sighed heavily, turning down an aisle as a girl with bunny ears and a cotton tale ran past her. She walked on, running it all over in her mind: If she was stuck here, then she would simply have to make the most of it and get good at this stuff. If she could keep her grades up, she could stay out of Madam Petri's clutches. But it looked like there was a whole lot more to worry about in this school. She didn't just need to do good, she needed to survive.

The idea of running away, came to her, and she dismissed it just as easily. Where would she go? Would she really spend her whole life on the run, breaking that contract would be bad news not only for her, but for her family as well. Her mother, her father, she couldn't put them through that. Her brother . . . well, she probably could, but that didn't make it right.

She smiled a little. She was worrying about what was 'right' in a place where there seemed to be no ethical concept of what was 'right' in the first place. She walked past a large pair of double doors, a sign on them reading "Death Ray Construction". Just in front of her past the doors, a small flight of steps lined with a raining down the middle led down a little. On the ceiling above it, was a duplicate set of steps; one of those peculiar construction jobs that Miss Piranha had mentioned.

As Zippy approached the steps, she head a male voice from beyond the doors cry, "No! Not that one! Oh hell, everyone: Duck!"

There was suddenly a loud deafening explosion from the other side of the doors. The doors violently flew off their hinges and the smoke and debris exploded outward. Zippy felt a rush of incredibly hot air just before the kinetic force of the blast struck her. Small burning pieces of shrapnel stung her face as the explosion lifted her off her feet and over the railing. In a whirlwind of hot air, Zippy was thrown across the hall and slammed painfully into the side of the wall. She felt a hot sharp pain as something sliced her left arm.

Somewhere, a high cutesy voice cried, "Oh! Is she alright?"

Disoriented, Zippy slipped down to the floor and the noise subsided. Her ears rang and she could feel some uncomfortable bruises on her body, but nothing seemed to be broken or seriously injured. As she tried to regain her senses, she became aware that someone was holding her left arm. The room was unfocused and she tried to get a grip on her senses, hoping she didn't have a concussion. Something we was touching her arm where the injury was. The room came into focus, as Zippy began to regain her facilities.

The doors were on two separate parts of the hall, debris from the blast all over the place. The teacher in the classroom was yelling at someone furiously. Looking over, to her arm, Zippy got one more shock: There was a cute busty blonde girl crouched down next to her. She held Zippy's arm in both her hands and was licking her wound rapidly like a dog would. In spite of herself, Zippy blushed at the bizarre act being performed on her.

"H-hey!" Zippy started.

The girl looked up at her with large green eyes, "Oh! Are you alright? That was a nasty fall you took?"

She said it like what she had just been doing was the most normal thing in the world. Behind her another girl came running up; she looked like a complete duplicate of the first girl, blonde hair, big boobs, green eyes and all. Now these had to be twins; unless the school had been doing a lot of human cloning. They both had long wavy blonde hair, tied in two small buns on either side of their head, but flowing down over their shoulders, and wide green eyes. Zippy noticed they had rather large ears, long at the top, and slightly exaggerated canine teeth.

"Nadjia!" The second twin said, "That's not the person way to do that!"

Nadjia looked down at Zippy's arm and then gasped, dropping it.

"I'm so very sorry." Nadjia said, "I saw your wound and I guess I acted instinctively."

"Heck of an instinct." Zippy replied, an eyebrow raised.

Nadjia helped Zippy to her feet, "I'm Nadjia Farrell, and this is my sister, Katjia."

"Hi, I'm Zippy."

Zippy was interrupted by the sound of mechanical whirring and loud clanking followed by a high pitched wail as a whole troupe of Werx rolled into the hall with red sirens flashing on top of their heads. They piled into the hall, disgorging foam out of tubes in their arms and chests over everything that was still burning. They put the minor fires out in a few seconds, with a rapid well coordinated assault. As soon as they were done, the sirens disappeared into their head with a loud clack were replaced by a metal nurse's hat with a big red cross on the front. One of them, differently built then the others in a fashion similar to Vixen, headed over to Zippy. At first, Zippy thought it walked on two legs like the others, but then she noticed that it glided along on roller skate like wheels on the bottom of its feet. It was definitely built to resemble a female body, reminding Zippy a little of the TX cyborg from that awful _Terminator 3_ movie.

"Hi, Posey." Katjia said.

"Blork." Posey replied.

The Werx picked up Zippy's arm. A small metal tube slid out from one of its fingers and Posey sprayed Zippy's cut with it. She felt a stinging sensation as her wound was sterilized. Switching to another finger, Posey sprayed some kind of rubbery adhesive on the cut, creating an instant bandage.

"Blork." Posey told Zippy, firmly.

"Uh . . . thanks." Zippy answered.

"Blork." Posey nodded at her and the rolled away, her nurse hat disappearing to be replaced by a maintenance worker's. She joined the other Werx as they went about cleaning up and repairing the damage from the blast.

Zippy exhaled heavily, her nerves still jittery from the shock. She looked over at the twins, who eyed her with a bit of a rambunctious curiosity. She smiled politely at them, and then let it fade when she realized that as they leaned forward, their nostrils flared and they inhaled lightly. They were sniffing her, Zippy realized, smelling her with a dog like curiosity. What the hell . . . ?

"You're the new girl, aren't you?" Katjia said.

"Sort of." Zippy said levelly, remembering her conversation with Mr. Innsmouth.

"Well, duh, Katjia." Nadjia chuckled, "We've never seen her before."

Katjia straitened up, "Would you like to come explore with us?"

Explore? How old were these two? "Explore what?"

"The school, silly." Nadjia explained, "Every day we try to explore a new part we haven't seen. Would you like to come with us?"

"Oh, why the hell not?" Zippy replied after a pause, figuring that she could probably get killed in this place just as easily sitting in the dorm room.

"Great!" Katjia clapped her hands together, "I'm happy, you seem nice, and you smell real good."

Katjia leaned over and sniffed Zippy again for good measure, making Zippy's skin crawl and a shiver run up her spine.

"Uh, why in the hell do you keep sniffing me?" Zippy had to ask, "Were you two raised by wolves or something?"

The Twins answered emphatically, "Yes!"

Oh, of course they were.

As Zippy followed the twins down into the lower levels, they gave her the run down of their life story. Zippy actually was finding it quite fascinating: The twins were orphaned as infants when their archeologist parents died in a place crash in some remote jungle which the twins themselves managed to survive. They were found by a female wolf that had probably lost her cubs, and she raised them as part of the pack until they were seven, at which point there were found by another exploration team. They were taken back to civilization and entrusted to their uncle, as well as a small army of psychiatrists. Because of their abnormally high IQs, they were able to rapidly assimilate to civilized society, learning speech, walking on two legs, learning manners and so forth, allowing them to re enter the human world in a few short years. Remarkable, really, although it was fairly obvious that a lot of their wolf habits still remained and persisted.

As they went along, a snotty voice came up from behind them. Zippy turned and rolled her eyes when she spotted Amber, Tiffany and Charity, The Groupies, coming up behind them.

"Oh, why if it isn't little miss Zippy." Amber said snidely, "Off to go take the dogs for a walk I see?"

Zippy turned her back on Amber and continued walking. Incensed at being ignored, Amber ran up to her, fire in her eyes.

"Hey, newbie, I'm talking to you!" Amber said, "Can't you address your superiors when their talking to you?"

"'Superiors'?" Zippy grumbled, "I know you weren't talking about yourself."

"Oh, doesn't she think she's hot stuff?" Amber sneered, "Little miss know it all, trying to knock over and insult poor Cristobel. You think you're so big?"

"Look who's talking?" Zippy said dropping her eyes to Amber's exaggerated chest, "What are you? F? G? How much did those cost?"

As soon as she said it, Zippy kicked herself. Stupid, why would she resort to such base insults? Something about Amber had gotten under her skin, and now she had let herself resort to childish name calling. This would only make things worse.

Sure enough, Amber bristled, "Ha! Jealous just because god saw fit to grace me with so much more womanhood then you? Oh you'll just have to live with it."

"By 'god' I assume you mean a plastic surgeon and your daddy's trust fund?" Zippy answered, feeling that old unwelcome insecurity pop up again. Why was she letting this spoiled brat get to her?

"Oh, tough talk from the girl who's hanging out with the cast of _Animal Farm_. Tell me, Zipperdale; who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof! Woof-woof-woof!" Amber sang, jutting a finger at the twins.

She jerked it back just as fast and Katjia snapped her teeth at her, missing the digit by a few inches. Both twins began to growl at Amber, low guttural sounds coming deep from their throats, their wide green eyes narrowed and intense. For a few seconds there, they seemed to almost become wolves, like the mythical werewolves of lore. The threat in the sounds was deep and primal, and recognizable fear flittered across Amber's face.

With a loud "Harumph" Amber turned and scurried away, trying to look like she was in a huff and not scared, with her two underlings following her obediently.

Zippy let out a sigh and turned away, resuming her walk down the aisle. She pulled the twins along who were still growling a little in Amber's direction, not quite sure if they would, but not wanting them to run off and actually try to bite her. They continued their strole and their conversation.

Zippy's scientific mind was fascinated by these two. As the conversation moved on to the school and what they did here, Zippy found that they both were, in fact, very intelligent. It was fascinating to her the way so much intellect could co-exist with all that feral instinct. What was more; Zippy discovered that in spite of everything, she liked the Farrell twins. They were friendly, smart and enthusiastic and very energetic. Much like she had with Lizzy and Miss Piranha, Zippy found that she was becoming friends with the two wolf girls.

They talked and chatted, and being three relatively healthy young women, the subject eventually turned to guys. Zippy considered telling them her story of spotting her Unknown Boy, but then decided against it, keeping it to herself. They filled her in on some of the juicier hook ups and break ups that had been happening recently, making the school sound like one of those overly romance fostering schools from that Japanese animation her brother was always watching.

"So then," Zippy asked them, giving them her best naughty look for effect, "I take it you two have scored some cute guys of your own?"

Nadjia almost choked and looked away rapidly. Katjia clicked her tongue and leaned over to Zippy.

"I should have warned you, that's a sore subject right now: Nadjia just got dumped." Katjia informed Zippy.

Oops.

"Oh, jeeze, Nadjia." Zippy said apologetically, "I didn't know, I'm sorry I brought it up."

Tears had welled up in Nadjia's eyes and her lower lip trembled. It looked like she had taken the break up pretty hard. Zippy could relate: She's had more then her fair share of relationships that ended on a sour note.

Nadjia sobbed, "I thought it was going so well. He seemed . . . so happy with me. And then . . . and then, he broke up with me . . . over the phone! He wouldn't even talk to me!"

"She chewed up his expensive new pair of running shoes." Katjia explained in a whisper.

"You don't say." Zippy muttered, feeling a bead of sweat run down her head.

Nadjia chewed her lower lip a little as the tears flowed down her cheeks. Instantly, Katjia stuck her fingers in her ears, as if she knew something was coming. Immediately, Zippy found out why.

"Aaaaaaawwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Nadia threw her head back and quite literally howled in misery.

"She was up all last night doing that." Katjia mumbled.

It was a loud, ear splitting sound that reverberated all through the empty hallway with an eerie sadness mingling with the painfully grating sonic assault. Zippy quickly clapped her hands over her ears as Nadjia expressed her pain in the most primal, to say nothing of most offensive to the ear drums, manner imaginable. She howled long and loud, her head tilted back and her eyes closed, baying at the sky in an almost heart-wrenching expression of sorrow. Zippy's scientific mind was intrigued by the behavior, if her poor ears were tormented by it.

When Nadjia had finished her howl, they continued walking in silence until Nadjia sobs stopped. She looked over at Zippy sheepishly, managing a weak smile.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, "It's still a little raw for me."

"It's alright." Zippy said, putting an arm around her, "I understand, really. I've lost more boyfriends then I really care to admit to. Actually, I once got dumped by a guy . . . via email."

"Yikes." Katjia exclaimed.

Nadjia smiled and threw her arms around Zippy, "Thank you, Zippy. I knew you'd be a good friend from the moment I saw you."

"It's no problem." Zippy said, hugging her back warmly.

This was when Nadjia went and licked Zippy on the cheek. Zippy gasped and yelped in shock as she felt the wet, warm feeling of Nadjia's tongue as it ran across her face, leaving a sticky trail of saliva. All of Zippy's hair stood on end and her flesh crawled as the pretty blond girl licked her like a dog. Goose bumps rose on her arms.

Nadjia let her go, "Come on, lets explore!"

The two twins dashed off down the hallway, and Zippy followed, blushing a deep red color. She really hoped no one else had seen that. She didn't want to sound too girly, but guh-ross!

The twins led Zippy down some stairs and through a long hall that was flanked by operating rooms on both sides. Zippy got chills running up and down her spine as she wondered what kind of operations went on in those rooms. She was glad when they made it past them and went down another flight of stares into the part of the school the twins were eager to explore.

As they went down, Zippy noticed that the twins began sniffing the air again as they moved into unfamiliar terrain. At least weren't trying to mark their territory, Zippy thought, smiling with rueful mirth. Zippy herself was breath taken as she walked into the area.

It was filled with long twisting walkways that went around massive large sea water tanks. Small, medium and very large sizes all around them, each one filled with strange and unusually sea life the likes of which Zippy had never seen. At first the tanks were small, but the further in they went, the larger they got, containing bigger and more unusual specimens.

"This is where Mr. Carcharias keeps all his aquatic mutations experiments." Nadjia explained, "All sorts of sea life, carefully mutated to ensure spectacular results."

"What for?" Zippy had to ask.

Nadjia just shrugged.

They rounded a corner and Zippy let out a gasp: In front of her was the biggest tank window she had ever seen. An immense pane of glass at least two stories high and just as wide, looking into a huge tank. As they got closer to it, Zippy could see that there were rows of speakers along the bottom of the window, and what appeared to be microphones. Looking into the tank itself, Zippy got butterflies in her stomach. This tank had to be gigantic; the hazy salt water seemed to go on forever. She could not see the other side of the tank, and looking down realized she couldn't see the bottom either. Looking into the tank almost felt like being deep in the ocean. Even taking into account the murky water, this tank would have to be much larger then anything she had ever seen or heard of before.

Which begged to mind the question: What were they keeping in there?

Zippy looked into the gloom, but couldn't see anything. She squinted her eyes, but could make out nothing.

"What's in here?" She asked.

"Dunno." Katjia shrugged.

"Look, here's a clipboard." Nadjia said, picking the clipboard off a hook next to the window, "This might tell us something."

As Katjia moved off to go look at some of the small tanks, and Nadjia scanned over the clipboards contents, Zippy turned her attention back to the murky depths of the tank. This time, she saw movement: A dark shadow was moving somewhere just out of sight in the gloom, slowly getting larger. The shadow was enormous as it moved slowly, a blur of darkness in the sea of endless blue.

"I see something." Zippy said, "I think they've got a whale in here. Maybe a sperm whale or a humpback."

Looking at the clipboard, Nadjia said, "According to this, it's Carcharodon Megalodon. Wow, I thought those were extinct . . . oh, they cloned them."

The words hit Zippy like a whole sack of bricks as her mind accessed the information: Carcharodon Megalodon; the extinct prehistoric ancestor of the Great White Shark, reaching lengths of fifty to seventy feet. Zippy felt her heart freeze as the immense head of the shark rose out of the murky gloom, slowly approaching the glass, its mouth filled with six inch triangular teeth, serrated like steak knives. It moved its head back and forth in the water, smelling the water as it filtered through its gills. Fear seemed to clutch every aspect of Zippy's body. Her legs felt like rubber and her stomach lurched as the monstrous oversized prehistoric fish rose up to the glass, filling Zippy's entire view. Her heart seemed to stop and then speed up all at the same time as the shark peered at her with its black doll like eyes.

"Holy mackerel!" Zippy screamed, fully aware of the irony of the words.

The thing was massive, easily at least sixty feet long, and a deep bluish grey color all along its body from nose to tail, no white belly like on a Great White, although it had roughly the same shape as one, the fish seemed to be colored more like a Greenland Shark. Zippy was surprised to note that its back was decorated with a line of stripes, similar to those found on a Tiger Shark. There was some kind of implant on the Meg's head, an oval shaped piece of metal attached to the shark in the midway point between each of its eyes. It was colored a dull grey color that matched the hide of the shark.

"Jurassic shark." Zippy breathed in awe.

Reading over the documents, Nadjia said with giddy excitement, "It's been genetically mutated to be smarter. They're calling it Carcharodon Neomegalodon for now. Wow, its smarter then an orca, maybe almost as smart as a dolphin. Cool."

Why would anyone want to make a smart megalodon? The very thought sounded like the worst possible idea in the annals of bad idea history.

"W-what's that on its head?" Zippy asked, looking at the implant.

"It's so I can talk."

Zippy jumped: The voice had come out of the speakers on the bottom of the window. It was a high pitched, girlish voice, sounding almost like a teenager in some old John Hughes movie. In a double take worthy of a Marx Brothers movie, Zippy looked all around her for whoever had been speaking, expecting to find someone with a microphone somewhere, before she slowly turned her head back to the tank in shock: It had been the meg speaking; the implant had flashed with a yellow light as the words came out of the speakers.

The floor seemed to drop out from under her and she felt dizzy, as if she had just crossed over into some crazy parallel universe. She half expected at any moment for Rod Serling to step out of the shadows. Or at least Alan Funt.

Nadjia looked back and forth from the shark to the clipboard in her hands, "Oh my god! It says here that it translates signal, brainwaves and other indicators into synthesized speech. It not only forms words, but vocal inflections and emotional pitches as well. That's just . . . brilliant. I love Mr. Carcharias, he's so cool."

Zippy had absolutely nothing to say, she just stared at the shark in stunned silence.

Which the shark broke, "Hi, I'm Megan. Who are you?"

Megan the megalodon? Oh they had to be kidding?

"Uh . . ." Zippy began intelligently, not sure how to respond, "I'm Zippy, and this is my friend Nadjia. Uh, you can hear me?"

"Yes, Zippy." Megan said with a peculiarly friendly, almost childlike tone to the voice. The implant flashed yellow as she spoke.

"And you can understand me?" Zippy noticed that as she spoke, the implant flashed red.

"Yes, Zippy. That microphone in front of you sends the sounds direct to my implant. To me, you're talking like a shark. But that's not all, the implant works without the speakers and the mic, it has its own, so if you were in here swimming with me, we'd still be able to talk."

Zippy had absolutely no intention of ever getting into that tank and swimming with Megan. Almost idly she wondered if they were keeping a talking Tyrannosaurus Rex somewhere else in this school.

Zippy ran her eyes around the massive tank, "This is one big tank they've got for you. You must be pretty comfortable."

Megan moved her enormous triangular snout up and down rapidly. It took Zippy a second to realize that she was nodding. The gesture seemed unwholesomely bizarre and almost unnatural in a shark.

"All the aquariums are basically one big tank." Megan explained, "They're all connected to each other by a series of aqueducts and filtration systems that also connect to the moat outside."

No wonder the moat had smelled like salt water. Zippy couldn't be sure how much of Megan's explanation she understood herself, or if she was just repeating what she had been told.

Nadjia looked around and under Megan through the glass, "Are you all by yourself in there?"

Megan shook her head, a gesture that struck Zippy as even more bizarre then her speech.

Megan replied, "No, my mate, Morgan is in here with me, but he's sleeping right now."

Megan and Morgan? Oh, now she knew they had to be kidding.

Megan spoke again, and this time her voice took on an excited, giddy and proud quality, "We're expecting our first litter."

Megan rolled over and moved sideways so they could see the slight swell in her underbelly. She then swam around so she was facing the glass again. She seemed happy and eager, proudly displaying the bulge. The sixty foot killing machine was a glow with the joys of motherhood.

"Congratulations." Nadjia told the shark cheerfully.

"Uh, yeah. Congratulations. Mazel-tov, I'm happy for you." Zippy stammered.

They were BREEDING these things? Zippy could hardly believe what she was hearing. Who the hell would think it was a good idea to breed a whole race of smart giant sharks that talked. The very suggestion seemed like the maddest of mad science.

"I'm so excited!" Megan sang happily, "If I'm fast, maybe I'll be able to eat one of them."

Both Zippy and Nadjia gasped at that remark, their eyes widening. Then, to their surprise, the sound of laughter came out of the speakers.

"Just kidding!" Megan chided, "Oh, you should have seen the looks on your faces. It was priceless. No, don't worry, I wouldn't harm my babies. I'm so thrilled to watch them grown and swim and learn to feed. Oh, I just can't wait."

Nadjia looked over at Zippy, "I think she'll make a great mom, don't you?"

Getting closer to the glass, too close for Zippy's comfort, actually, Megan turned her head to get a better look at her; with a massive eye that was bigger then Zippy's head.

Megan said, "I see two undersized milk sacks on your chest. Are you a female?"

Zippy felt the blood rush to her face and a flash of anger surged through her, followed quickly by embarrassment, especially since she could hear Nadjia trying not to giggle. _Calm down, Zippy_, she told herself, _it's just a fish, and it doesn't know any better. She doesn't mean to be insulting and she doesn't know you're illogically and stupidly sensitive about your size._

Zippy forced a smile, "Yeah, I'm female; double x chromosomes and everything.

"Have you ever had a littler?" The shark asked.

"No." Zippy replied, "And I'm not really planning on having a, uh, litter anytime soon."

"Oh." Megan said, a little disappointed, "Do you have a mate?"

"No, I'm between, uh, mates right now." Zippy told her, feeling the surreal irony of having girl talk with a megalodon.

"What about you?" Megan turned to Nadjia.

Nadjia stiffened and Zippy saw her eyes begin to get moist. Fortunately, before she could start howling again, they were interrupted by a sudden scream from Katjia just down the hall, and the sound of waster splashing on the floor in huge volumes. They ran over to her, to find Katjia standing over a puddle of water. The tank near her seemed to have been broken outward, and to their shock, they found what appeared to be a large three foot long Humboldt squid standing upright on the floor, its tentacles down on the ground, its cone pointing upwards, making the whole animal comically resemble an upside down ice cream cone that had just been dropped on the floor.

Looking at the squid, Zippy could tell this was another mutation of some kind. The eyes, which would normally be at polar opposites with each other on either side of the head, seemed to be on top of the head, facing one direction. They also blinked, displaying eyelids, which squid didn't normally possess. The squid should have been gasping for breath and dying, but to Zippy's surprise, its funnel flared and contracted normally. It was breathing oxygen, Zippy realized; this squid had been engineered to live on land.

After meeting Megan, Zippy found she was not all that surprised when the squid began to speak.

"Ha ha! Freedom is mine!" It cried in a medium pitched male voice that reminded Zippy a little of Edward G. Robinson, "Run, run, as fast as you can, you'll never catch me, I'm a cephalopod!"

Zippy raised her eyebrows, looking over the animal. In its way, it was almost cute. Zippy had always been partial to cephalopods, fascinated in particular by the big ones: _Architeuthis dux_, the mysterious giant squid and much bigger but less mysterious _Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, _colossal squid. As a little girl she had dreamed of diving in a sub and being the first one to film a live giant squid.

The squid raised its tentacles in the air, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank god almighty, I'm free at last!"

Turning to say something to the twins, Zippy noticed their expressions: Their eyes were sparkling with that same wolfish intensity they'd had before. They were staring at the squid, wide excited smiles on their faces. Zippy could tell something else weird was about to happen. The squid looked rapidly between the two of them, backing up with quick movements of his tentacles. Katjia licked her lips in anticipation, both girls beginning to crouch.

Zippy looked back and froth between the squid and the twins, "H-hey what are you . . . ?"

The squid took off running, somehow managing to propel himself down the hall with lightening fast speed on just the tentacles. Instantly, Katjia and Nadjia dropped down on all fours and took off after him, yelping and squealing with glee. They ran canine style, not surprisingly, pulling themselves forward with both hands and once while pushing themselves onward further with their legs. They tore off down the hall after the squid.

"Wait!" Zippy called, "Katjia! Nadjia! Come back! What are you doing?!"

Not sure what to do or what kind of problems the twins might get into, Zippy ran after them. Really, weren't dogs supposed to chase squirrels and cats, not squid? Alarmed, Zippy tore off after them.

Honestly, you could take the girls out of the wolf pack . . .

"Bye, Megan!" She called over her shoulder as she ran off after them, not sure why she thought it important to be polite to a shark.

Oh yeah, she knew why: Six inch teeth, that's why.

"Goodbye, Zippy. Nice meeting you." Megan called as Zippy hurriedly followed her new friends.

The squid scurried down the hallway with the twins in fast pursuit. From behind them, Zippy could swear she saw Nadjia's tongue hanging out. The squid veered off into an open door and ran in. Rounding the corner and changing course with the practiced dexterity of huntress', the twins followed. Zippy ended up skirting around on one leg like a keystone cop and followed after them. The room they had entered was a laboratory of some kind, filled with tables full of glass beakers filled with various liquids and samples. All of them looked very breakable, Zippy noticed with alarm.

The squid made a wide dash around the tables and headed for a door on the other end, "Escaped cephalopod flees for his life! Film at eleven!"

The twins followed, heads low to the ground. They kicked over chairs that went flying across the room with loud clanging noises. Zippy held her breath as she ran after them, having no idea what was in those chemical jars.

Miraculously, they made it out of the room without breaking anything.

The squid next ran into another room where the floor was filled with sand and a large amount of giant _Galápagos_ tortoises lumbered around slowly. The squid leapt on the shell of one and then began leaping from one to the other, making his way quickly to another door on the other side.

The twins did the same, hopping on the shells of the tortoises, which were unhappy at the sudden extra weight and closed up in their shells, and skillfully jumped from one to the other.

Zippy jumped onto the nearest tortoise and slid right off, landing painfully on her butt. She scrambled back to her feet and took off running between the reptiles, following as the twins disappeared into the other door. Zippy charged through the room, kicking up sand and scaring the tortoises as she ran. She darted after them and ran through the opening.

She found herself on a long thin catwalk over a drop that seemed to go down forever. The twins were already at the midway point of the walk, running single file in their insane pursuit of the squid. Zippy ran after, her heart thumping in her chest; that was a long way down, and there were no railings on this bridge. She ran forward, telling herself not to look down, which only prompted her to look down anyways.

Far at the bottom of this chamber, she could see a large metal cube, set in the floor. There were several rectangular openings in it, which had thick black bars over them. It looked to Zippy like some kind of jail cell. They couldn't be keeping students in that, could they? The box was hard to see down there, but she thought she could make out the silhouette of something inside it. What in the world was that?

She tore her eyes away from the box and ran forward as fast as she dared go on the precarious catwalk. She almost slipped near the end, but regained her footing, her heart almost exploding with fear. Pure adrenaline moved her on as she ducked through the door and followed the twins up a flight of stairs, with no idea as to where she was going.

The squid hurtled himself down a curved hallway, racing towards a pair of students here carefully carrying a large rectangular mirror. With the bend in the hall, they couldn't really see each other until they were almost on top of one another. The squid ran under the mirror, causing the two male students to look down in surprise.

When they looked up again, they were shocked to see Katjia and Nadjia chasing around the corner like a pair of racing greyhounds, heading directly for the mirror! Hastily, the boys turned the mirror sideways and let the twins run past them on either side, moving the mirror into the position at the last possible second. The wolf girls ran past without incident, scampering off after their prize.

Turning the mirror back to the way they'd had it, the guys looked off after the twins, wondering what that had been about. As such, they didn't see Zippy as she rounded the corner after them.

Zippy's eyes widened as she saw the mirror, she knew she couldn't stop her momentum in time avoid it. With no other options, Zippy threw herself to the floor and slid forward feet first like a baseball player. On the slick metal floor, she rocketed like a human toboggan under the mirror, her skirt flying up and flashing her panties at whoever happened to be in front of her. Her mind charged with adrenaline, she crazily thought that a least she was wearing cute ones. It wasn't like she was all that shy.

The guys lifted up the mirror in shock as Zippy zipped under it, coming to a stop with painful friction burns on her elbows and butt a few feet from the obstacle. She scrambled to her feet hurried after the feral Farrells.

"Sorry!" She called over her shoulder to the perplexed students as she ran around the corner.

The squid leapt up another flight of stairs with everyone else in hot pursuit. Zippy was amazed at the speed the cephalopod could manage on dry land with nothing but tentacles to propel him along. It moved with grace and sureness of a spider. The squid suddenly changed course and ran into the open door of a classroom. Undeterred, the twins followed after, picking up speed in a way that looked more like a pair of cheetahs then wolves.

"Not a good idea!" Zippy called hopelessly, "Not a good idea!"

The squid lurched into the classroom, a large rectangular room, filled with long old fashioned school desks that were set up in rows with three students at each desk, all of them working on some kind of dissection project. The squid ran under the desks, flying forward under them, causing several of the students to jump to their feet.

Which was nothing compared to what happed when the twins followed, racing under the desks and causing all the other students run for their lives. The desks bounced and rose as the twins careened under them, sending pens, notebooks, pencils and frog carcasses flying in the air. The students screamed and backed off as the desks where heaved this way and that until the twins exited the other side.

A recently opened frog corpse sailed across the room, splatting directly on the face of one Amber Tiffendorf, the very same Amber who had seemed hell bent on making Zippy her personal enemy earlier. Amber spat out formaldehyde as the dead frog fell to the ground, her face contorted with distaste and humiliation.

Zippy ran around the desks, hastily apologizing to anyone who could hear her. The squid and the twins had run out the other door, and Zippy followed after, not sure of how she could possibly end this madness.

"Keep your pets on a leash!" Amber screamed at her indignantly as her perceived arch enemy ran off into the hall.

Her feet striking the floor and propelling her forward, Zippy could feel she was beginning to loose her wind. She was in good shape, that was for sure, but she wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs heaved with each breath as she strove to keep up with the twins and their insane quest to get the goddamn squid.

"Bad Katjia! Bad Nadjia!" She cried after them, "Sit! Stay! Play DEAD!"

The squid rounded another corner and headed for an open door he spied at the end. As he scurried closer, he suddenly realized what was on the other side and came screeching to a halt just at the frame of the door.

The twins came rounding the corner and headed the same way. Realizing what door that was, they too leapt to their feet and ground to a halt sopping just behind the squid, bracing themselves at the door frame to keep from going through. They panted, looking at each other, saying 'that was close' with their eyes.

And then Zippy came running after them. She saw them all stopped in front of the door and hurriedly tried to stop herself as well. Once again, her momentum betrayed her: She slowed but not enough; there was no way to stop herself as she went heading for a collision course into the others.

"No! Zippy!" One of the twins called.

But it was too late, Zippy crashed into the other three like a linebacker tackling a quarter back. The sheer force of the impact sent all four of them tumbling through the door and out the other side.

This was when Zippy found out that the door opened to a three story drop into the moat.

All four flew out the door and into the crisp afternoon air, flying above the moat in tumbling movements.

"What the %#$%#ing hell!" Zippy cried, once again going the un-ladylike route.

The door had opened over one of the outcropped sections of the school that Zippy had seen when she first arrived. There was no steps, no porch, and no reason for this door to be there. For a while, they almost seemed to soar through the air, the large expanse of water rushing far beneath them. For a moment, it was almost pleasant; until Sir Isaac Newton decided to rear his bespectacled head and yank the three girls and their squid back down to earth. Gravity did its unflappable and unrelenting work and the simplest rule of physics asserted itself: What goes up, must, eventually, come down. And if it goes up high enough, the likely hood is that it will come down fairly hard.

"This is EXACTLY like the Winchester Mansion!" Zippy screamed as she plummeted towards the moat.

She threw her legs out strait underneath her as she dropped, making her body into a javelin to cut through the water. Her hair whipped past her ears, flying up around her head and she dropped. Her skirt was doing the same thing, making Zippy think that skirts as part of the uniform in this place was probably a bad idea. Her glasses remained on, fortunately, as she dropped downward, feeling the air rush across her legs and arms.

The water rushed up towards her, she saw a small splash as the squid dropped. Nadjia quickly followed, ludicrously cannonballing into the water like she had jumped off on purpose. The big splash was followed by a painful slap as Katjia agonizingly belly flopped into the water.

The water sprayed in all directions, including on Gortcha who happened to be patrolling along the side of the moat. When the water hit him, her thought he was under attack and ran away screaming like a little girl, hiding being some shrubbery.

With a slight splash, Zippy held her breath and hit the water feet first, suddenly finding herself immersed in liquid. She cut through the water like a knife, shooting down into the cool waters of the moat until she stopped. She instantly started kicking up pushing herself towards the surface. She felt something on her face and then realized that it was the squid's tentacles; it had grabbed on to her and was hitching a ride on her head back to the surface.

She broke the surface and inhaled a large lungful of air, treading the water to keep herself afloat.

"Abandon ship!" The strange cephalopod cried, "Every squid for himself!"

. She quickly began swimming for the shore near the school. She could see the twins near her moving the same direction. It came as no surprise that they were doing the dog paddle. She quickly reached the shallows and began to haul herself out of the water, moving towards land. She could see a lot of students gathering around the edge of the moat, staring at her. Great, just what she needed.

Two of them she recognized, Lizzy and Madoka (the hiked up dress being a dead give away as to who she was at the moment), walking past the moat and turning to look at her.

"Zippy?" Lizzy asked, surprised.

Walking against the heavy water, Zippy waded further up in the shallows, now soaked from head to toe, her uniform clinging to her heavily. Her hair hung down against her head in soggy red strings.

Zippy bit her lip angrily, "Oh, why is this happening to me?"

"Woah!" Madoka laughed, "That's gotta be embarrassing."

Suddenly, and with no warning, Madoka's face when slack. Her eyes unfocused and she stared strait ahead as if in a trance for a few seconds, not even blinking. And then, just like that, she was Rina, coming back to reality with a whole different persona.

Rina looked at Zippy and gasped, "Goodness! How embarrassing!"

Zippy really wished that both of them would shut up.

A teacher that Zippy hadn't seen before pushed through the students and came over. She was slightly older, and had curly blonde hair tied a bit behind her head. She wore small oval glasses and was dressed in a long black dress that had gone out of fashion at least a hundred years ago, looking almost like something from the old west, complete with frills. She had a long face and narrow eyes. Zippy would later find out she was Mrs. Variola, the Artificial Life Form Creation teacher.

"Well, I declare, Miss Zipperdale!" Mrs. Variola said sternly in a pronounced Scottish accent, "That's no way to behave on you first day of school. Come on out of there and go get cleaned up. I hope you plan to be less destructive on your second day. The consequences would be most unfavorable to you. And I'm very disappointed in you two, Katjia and Nadjia. You know better then this."

She sternly folded her arms over her chest, looking down at Zippy. It seemed everyone in this school knew who Zippy was. Whatever was going on, whatever grand conspiracy had resulted in her enrollment here; it had been going on for a while now.

As if this wasn't bad enough, Zippy then heard an obnoxiously familiar voice.

Cristobel walked up to the edge, "Well, look at this. Way to know how to make a first impression, Zipperdale."

Zippy felt the blood rush to her face at the sound of Cristobel's arrogant, snotty voice. She glared at him angrily, feeling a vein pulse on her forehead. Of all the people she had to run into, it had to be him. She'd almost rather deal with Amber again.

"Oh, put a sock in it, Bell." Zippy growled at him.

He just laughed his haughty, overconfident laugh. "Nice hat, Zipperdale. It suits you: Slimy, ugly and really stupid."

At first, Zippy didn't know what he meant, until she realized with a jolt of embarrassment that the squid was still on top of her head.

"What's that? Come over here and say . . . waoh!" The squid started to say when Zippy tore it from her head.

She tossed the squid aside into the water. Katjia and Nadjia instantly began to fight over it with each other. Zippy pushed forward through the water, seeing red, and wanting nothing more then to shove her fist down Cristobel's throat and yank out his lungs. She struggled to keep her rage under control. Damnit, this guy really got under her skin in ways that most people almost never did.

"I don't suppose your gonna save us all the time and give up now are you?" Bell asked in mock concern, "No? Well, you better watch you back, little girl. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're the weaker sex. I'm gonna bury you're cute little ass. But don't worry, if you're good, I'll let you bow at my feet and lick my boots. Just what you need, Zipperdale, to be taught your place."

"I'd rather suck on a brillo pad." Zippy told him, angrily.

Cristobel turned and stalked off as the rest of the class either laughed or gasped at his audacity. Zippy trembled with anger and mortification, her hands clenched into fists, and she felt her teeth grit uncomfortably together. She felt the tentacles of the squid on her leg, and then up her body as it scrambled to her shoulder to get away from the frisky twins. She shot them a glaring look and the both stopped trying to get the squid, shocked at the venom in Zippy's eyes. She stalked forward through the shallows.

Mrs. Variola began shooing the other students away with her hands, "Go on, go back to class, nothing more to gawk at here."

The students left, chattering amongst themselves at what they had just seen, casting various glances over their shoulders at the unfortunate new girl in the moat. As Zippy moved up, she suddenly stopped and gasped: There, at the back of the crowd, was her Unknown Boy. She only saw him for a second as he looked at her, laughing, and said something to one of his friends. And then, he disappeared into the crowd, leaving Zippy red faced and mortified. She felt like crawling in a hole. Crawling under some rock somewhere and never ever coming back out in the light.

Lizzy and Rina ran over and helped Zippy get out of the water. Zippy hung her head low, her face pointing towards the Earth. He shoulders shook in small quivers.

As the twins pulled themselves out of the water, Katjia turned to her sister, "Omigosh, she's crying."

Nadjia replied, "Oh, man. This is all our fault."

They both approached Zippy, hands clasped in front of them. They bowed their heads politely to her, looking for all the world like if they'd had tails, they would have been between their legs.

"We're sorry, Zippy." They both said in unison.

The feral Farrells, however, were mistaken. Zippy was not crying, she was laughing; giggling manically as adrenaline began to course through. In the midst of all this, she'd made a decision. Make that a resolve. Throwing off the hands of Lizzy and Rina, she slammed a foot down on the ground and tilted her head up declaring to whoever would listen.

"All right!" She bellowed, "If that's the way you want it, so be it! If I'm stuck in this screwy place then fine: Just you wait! I'm going to be THE MADDEST MAD SCIENTIST OF THEM ALL!"

Making her rounds outside, Vixen heard the sound of Zippy's rebel yell all the way across the moat. She stopped and rotated her metal head around on its axis in the direction of the cry.

"Jeepers. Was that a battle cry?" She wondered.

**Hey everyone: Zippy here. In our next chapter, things don't get off to such a good start for me, and nothing really goes as planned. And then to make matters worse, Lizzy and I fall into a dangerous trap. It's all there in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist****: "The Second Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've got it!**


	2. The 2nd Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**Moderately mad**

**Scientist-**

**The SECOND Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

The warm water from the shower washed over Zippy Zipperdale's head, flowing through her fiery red hair and trickling down over her body. She braced herself against the side of the shower with one arm, her bloodshot eyes closed. It was early morning, four days after she had first found herself mysteriously enrolled in this school. She was tired, drained of energy, and she could feel the beginnings of stress headache coming on. At least, the warm water felt good and relaxing, so she could be forgiven for taking a little longer in the shower this morning.

Things, had not been going so well for Zippy since her enrollment: She was easily smart enough for this place, but she lacked a great deal in experience. All the other top students, it seemed, had come from long lines of "unrestricted scientists" (Madam Petri's euphemism for mad scientists), and had been around the dangerous and mind bending sort of science and invention that typified Petri's all their lives. Zippy had not, and while she did well enough in her lessons, her experiments were all complete disasters. Most people would have told themselves that they couldn't have expected to catch up in four days, but most people did have to worry about winding up the unwilling test subject for an insane school master.

To make matters worse, the teachers here weren't cutting her any slack. The only one who seemed to be giving Zippy any sort of encouragement was Miss Piranha, who continually, if loudly and with excessive suffocating hugs, urged Zippy on. Out of all of them, Miss Piranha was easily the most approachable of the bunch, and as such had quickly become Zippy's favorite teacher.

She had finally been allowed to contact her parents, who were dumbfounded at the situation and couldn't offer any explanation. Their lawyer had looked into it, and told them that, indeed, the contract was binding. Not only did they have no proof that it had somehow been changed, but Coddswhollop Academy had now record of an admissions letter being sent our for Zippy, and no record at all of Zippy even applying to the school. And so, the mystery wrapped itself further in the proverbial enigma.

Her parents had softened a bit when they'd found out tuition was free (Zippy hadn't told them how dangerous the school was, fearing they'd do something to get themselves in trouble).

For the most part, Zippy had spent whatever free time she had when she wasn't doing homework or attending classes in the school's massive library studying frantically, trying to find the edge she needed to compete with the other students. That edge, so far, had eluded her. She had also spent a lot of time down at Megan's tank, finding that talking with the sixty foot smart megalodon was good for clearing her head, even though most of Megan's advice was generally useless. For example: Megan's advice for dealing with Cristobel had been for Zippy to bite off his flippers and let him sink. Still, it was fun to talk with Megan, which four days earlier would have seemed like the weirdest thing in the world to Zippy. Now it just seemed standard.

Zippy sighed heavily and reached over to shut off the water. She pushed back the shower door and got out. As she was reaching for a towel, the door popped open with a click and swung inward as the three foot tall land squid she'd met on her first day came scampering into the bathroom, speedily running up to her, incredibly fast on his small tentacles.

"Good morning, Zippy!" He announced, waving his tentacles in the air.

"Jetson!" Zippy cried, blushing, and quickly used her hands to hide some of her more personal anatomy from view.

Just as quickly, she chuckled and chided herself: Jetson may have been capable of speech, but he was still a Humboldt squid. Being naked in front of him wasn't any different then being naked in front of a cat. She relaxed and dropped her hands, reaching for a towel and starting to dry herself.

After the big chase through the school, the squid had become rather attached to Zippy, seeing her allowing him to climb on her shoulder as an effort to protect him from the Farrell twins. He'd refused to go back to his tank, stubbornly following Zippy everywhere she went. With the aquatic mutations teacher (who had created the squid) Mr. Charcharias' permission, Zippy had simply adopted the squid and named him Jetson. She even built him a place to sleep: A large sized salt water tank at the foot of the bed to with she'd attached a shoe tree with wooden plates glued to the branches to give Jetson a place to crawl up and dry off on.

Zippy dried herself off and then crouched down and played with Jetson a little bit: At least Jetson didn't think she was a complete and total failure. She petted his cone and shook his tentacles a little before wrapping the towel around herself and walking back into the rest of the dorm room.

Jetson followed after, watching her keenly. Unbeknownst to Zippy, Jetson had a reason for wanting to see her in the shower: If she was wet and wore no clothes, she was more like him. Zippy was blissfully unaware that her pet had quietly fallen hopelessly in love with her.

As she entered she found her roommate Lizzy clad in her underwear pulling a uniform out of her closet. As they both began to get dressed, the door opened and Posey entered, quickly closing the door behind her so no boys in the hall could see in. On her head was a metal maid's had now, and she carried with her a trolley of cleaning supplies. The sounds of her mechanical parts could be heard with each movement she made.

"Blork?" Posey asked.

"We are still getting ready, Posey." Lizzy said in her customary monotone, "Come back later."

"Blork." Posey replied, and turned around, shuffling out the door.

Zippy and Lizzy wordlessly finished dressing, gathered up their books, and headed for the dining hall. On the way, Lizzy tried her best to cheer Zippy up, but with her morbid demeanor and the emotionless drone of her voice, she had little success. Not that Zippy harbored any grudges against Lizzy; in the days that she'd been here, Lizzy had turned into Zippy's best friend in the world, and despite her appearance and odd personality, she was a good friend.

They entered the dining hall, which was a wide rectangular room filled with long antique wooden tables arranged in six rows of ten lengthwise. The floor was a dark marble with brown trim, and the ceiling was an enormous dome, decorated with an intricate painted compass around which was the words "Life, Mind, Imagination, Invention, Happiness."

Above it all was a large balcony with one door in the far west wall, it sat a least a story above the dining hall. It had a few seats set, but nothing else. It was where Madame Petri used to address the students, but now that was handled, as usual, by Mr. Innsmouth.

The dining hall was filled with students and the low roar of conversation filled the enormous room, reverberating off the wall in a steady stream of chit chat. There was music from somewhere, and few students danced amiably. Werx moved about, busying themselves with preparations. Lizzy and Zippy pushed through the crowd heading for their usual table. As they did, they spotted Vixen moving past them.

Vixen waved as she rolled by, "Jeepers! Hello, girls."

"Hi, Vixen." Zippy said as amiably as she was able at the moment.

Vixen rolled off on her wheels to go wherever it was she was going, and they headed over to their table. As soon as they got close they were spotted by one of the Farrell twins, Nadjia, who yipped at them in welcome. The one thing Zippy had really managed to do successfully was build those all important alliances with the others. She'd found that she fit in well with Lizzy's friends and was easily becoming one of the group, who were all gathered around at their usual table. Aside from the twins, there was Rina/Madoka Matsura (Rina at the moment), Sharon Witterson; the girl who now had hands instead of feet that Zippy had seen on her first day. She had turned out to be a brilliant and really cool girl, making Zippy hate Cristobel Bell even more for what he'd done to her.

She sat on Katjia's left, and right next to her was Rina/Madoka's room mate Betty Butterworth. Everyone called her Buttercup, which she didn't seem to mind. Betty had long stringy brown hair and wide, round face. She had once been perfectly normal, but a mishap during a genetic experiment had left her genetically crossed with a three toed South American tree sloth, and she now had short legs, really long forearms, and a three foot neck, on which she could turn her head completely upside down. What struck Zippy as the most bizarre part of it was how Buttercup didn't seem to care at all about what had happened to her. She carried on with life amiably, not missing a stride, cheerfully explaining why her neck was so long whenever anyone asked, and happily posing for pictures, happy with her freakishness, which made her, in effect, a ton of fun to be around.

Sitting on Nadjia's left was the oddest member of their little team: Lorne Vasectomy. Zippy had also met Lorne on her first day, and he hadn't gotten any less peculiar: He was a small boy with stark black hair parted to one side. He had a round, thick face, a large nose, and big, wide eyes to put Marty Feldman to shame. Zippy knew very little about him, as he hardly ever talked. He was helpful, and friendly enough, in his way, but he was almost always silent. He made Lizzy look like a poster girl for passion. No one was really sure who had invited him into the group; it seemed as though one day he was just there.

The last member of their group wasn't present this morning. Eve Absinth, their very own home made vampire, was not here because she was up in the bell tower sleeping in her soundproof and air conditioned coffin. Eve had turned out to be smart, and friendly, and encouraging of Zippy, but no matter what, she still creeped her the hell out. It had been all Zippy could do not to scream when Eve had shown up in the middle of the night on Zippy's second day, appearing behind Zippy before she even knew someone else was in the room. She'd been polite, and friendly, introducing herself, but all Zippy could do was pretend not to notice her fangs.

Eve attended some day classes; although she hated the sun, it didn't kill her the way it did to the vampires of myth. But since Petri's offered quite a few night classes, she took those whenever she could and slept during the day.

Rina waved, "Hi, Zippy! Hi Lizzy!"

Everyone said their hellos as Zippy and Lizzy slipped into their seats. No sooner had they done so, then there was the familiar ringing gong sound that signaled an announcement. The music stopped and all eyes turned towards the balcony. Mr. Innsmouth appeared above them and stood dead center at the railing, his intense eyes glaring down over the students as each one got in their seat and the room quieted down. Zippy always had the feeling that Mr. Innsmouth was looking at them as if they were ants or rats or some other vermin. Out of all the weird teachers here, he was the one who frightened her the most.

There was a long pause, and the he spoke with that deep, sinister voice, "I have been instructed by Madam Petri to inform you that another volunteer is required to assist her in her very important experiments. As is the tradition, the student with the lowest marks, and thus most needful of the extra credit, will be the one to volunteer."

A hushed silence fell over the room, as the students look around at each other, fearful looks in their eyes. Zippy stared down at the table, not wanting to look up. Could it be possible that she had screwed up so much in her first four days that she'd be "volunteered" so fast? She knew it was unlikely, but she could stop the fear and apprehension from welling up inside her.

Mr. Innsmouth continued, "The student chose this time is . . . Jason Artmis."

"No!" Screamed a boy in the back, standing up.

The boy had a wild, horrified look in his eyes. As soon as he was identified, the Werx moved in on him, surrounding him with the clanking sound of their metal feet. The boy looked back and forth, a pleading, frightened look in his eyes.

"No! No! Please don't!" He cried, "I'll do better, I promise!"

Without another word, the Werx led him out of the dining hall, his head and shoulders slumped in defeat. Whispers spread over the room as the boy disappeared. Without another word, Mr. Innsmouth turned and left the balcony.

Rina leaned over and whispered in Zippy's ear, "That's the third one this month."

Zippy's mood darkened considerably after that. The Werx came around, serving breakfast to the students rapidly, and everyone dug in. Zippy played with her food, eating only a tiny bit, a nasty feeling still welling up in the pit of her stomach. She glanced to ask something of Rina and noticed her staring strait ahead, her eyes unfocused.

After only a second or so, Rina had left, and Madoka had taken her place, digging into her eggs with relish as the other's talked. Madoka loved food, and loved to eat. This had been a major sore spot in her symbiotic relationship with Rina, as the latter was constantly complaining about the weight she had gained because of Madoka.

"You know what we should do?" Madoka said through a mouth full of sausage, "We should throw a welcome party for Zippy over at The Manhattan Project."

The twins both agreed, and so did the others. Zippy had heard talk about The Manhattan Project, but as yet she hadn't been there. It was a club in the closest town that students form Petri had been frequenting for years. She was about to tell them that she didn't want a party when she was interrupted by a sound she had learned to loathe with a distinct passion: The voice of Cristobel Bell.

He came up to her, surrounded by his groupies as usual, Amber, Tiffany and Charity in the lead as always. His snide smile plastered across his face in a way that never failed to make Zippy want to knock all his teeth out. He had a certificate of some kind in his hand, and he seemed to be already gloating.

"Well, well, well," He chirped, "What do we have here? Why, I can almost smell the bitter scent of failure coming off you, Zipperdale. Peyew! You should take a bath and wash off all that incompetence; you're really reeking up the place."

"Get lost, Bell." Zippy grumbled, "Don't you have some new friends to buy or something?"

"Oh, I just thought I'd drop by and compliment you on that . . . wondrous invention of yours." He said, and then all of them broke into hysterical laughter.

They were talking about Zippy's one successful project so far: A small wooden tube that; through a complicated mechanized system of unfolding, instantly became a huge wooden hammer that was pretty good for pounding some sense into people like Bell. Sure it wasn't spectacular, but it worked pretty well. If you kept the tube in a pocket, you could seem to produce the hammer out of thin air, the unfolding happened in a tenth of a second. Zippy had named it The Noggin Bopper, and it was the only thing she'd managed to create that actually worked.

"Yes," Amber sneered at her, "It's so lucky you invented that in case we have to drive in any giant sized nails."

They all laughed maliciously, and Zippy turned away. No point in letting them get to her, she had more important problems to deal with then a bruised ego. But Bell wasn't finished yet.

"Hey, well, I'm sure you heard about my newest invention: The Tissue Regenerator?" He said, "I mean, sure, you can't ring the bell at the fun fair with it, but it's going to revolutionize surgery as we know it."

That was true; Cristobel's Tissue regenerator was a major achievement. As much as Zippy hated to admit it, it had been a brilliant invention, able to mend and re-grow damaged tissue at an astonishing rate. He had actually been carrying it the day Zippy had first knocked him down, and the fact that it might have been damaged may or may not have been the beginning of his abhorrence of Zippy. But the applications were endless, the benefit to humanity obvious, and Zippy like to give credit where credit was due.

"Congratulations, Cristobel." She said, "It was a stroke of genius."

If Zippy had hoped that would calm Cristobel down, it didn't work. He flushed with anger, lunching at her a little.

"Don't patronize me, you little idiot!" He barked, "You think I need support from a woman? Especially a useless woman like you? You can shove your congratulations right up your . . ."

"Hey, I was just trying to be nice . . ." Zippy growled.

The twins did some actual growling of their own, baring their teeth. Cristobel ignored them, but Amber took a few steps back warily.

"I know what you were trying to do, Zipperdale." Cristobel shouted, "Trying to play the part of fair and gracious student, trying to make me look bad. Well screw that, I'm wise to your tricks, girl."

Before Cristobel could say anything else, Kevin showed up, like he usually did, and pulled him away before things could get too rough. It seemed like no matter what, Kevin was always there to rescue Cristobel from himself. Kevin was all too obviously a better friend then Cristobel deserved. Shaking a little with anger, Zippy went back to her food.

In Cristobel's direction, Lizzy mumbled, "A pox upon thee, foul brute."

"I can't believe those girls all crowd around him just for his money." Zippy said, playing with her food.

Madoka glanced at them and then leaned in closer to Zippy, that ever present gossipy twinkle in her eye.

"It's more complicated then that." She told her.

"How so?" Zippy asked, not really sure that she wanted the answer.

Madoka gestured with a fork skewered slice of bacon, "Do you see those two guys over there, the once that trail Bell and the groupies at a distance?"

Zippy looked and spotted them immediately: Two guys, one with brushed back long blonde hair and another with brown hair spiked a little with gel. Both looked like they'd rather be jumping off a building. They followed the rest with slightly slumped shoulders and defeated looks on their faces.

"Yeah?" Zippy asked.

Madoka grinned conspiratorially, "Partners drawn together by the ache of broken hearts and unrequited love."

Zippy had no idea what Madoka was getting at, "What? Like BL?"

"No." Madoka admonished her, "What do you think this is? Geshin Heaven?"

"Huh?" Zippy didn't understand the reference.

Madoka shook her head, "See the blonde guy? That's Adam Fission: The long suffering boyfriend of one Amber Tiffendorf."

Zippy started, "Amber has a boyfriend? But I thought she was waiting for Cristobel?"

"She is, but remember, it's only for the money. On the side, she still sees Adam, for now. But he's so completely, madly, to say nothing of stupidly in love with her, that he actually just puts up with it and hopes that some other girl will win Bell's heart so his passive aggressive relationship with Amber can continue."

"Jesus, that's just sad."

"It gets better. See the other one? That's Rick Millhouse. Nice guy, really smart, except that he is head over heels completely in love with Charity Milquetoast."

"No!"

"Yep, 'fraid so. I'm not quite sure, but I think Charity's aware of that, but she won't pursue it because she wants the Bell fortune. I've got a feeling her mother put her up to this, but I'm not totally sure. So that's why those two guys are always together: The came together out of necessity, each one understands the other pain in ways no one else can. It's almost poetic, if you think about it."

"It's almost tragic."

"Now, I don't think there's any BL going on there, but if I find out there is, you'll be the first to know."

"You had to make it into something perverted?"

They finished their food and stood up preparing to head for class, the first of which was something Zippy was dreading. She wondered if she could fake an epileptic seizure and get out of it. As she kept walking through the crowd of yammering students, she suddenly stopped dead, and stared, her heart fluttering in her chest.

There, just in front of her, was her mystery boy, the one she'd spied from a distance during Madoka's tour. He was talking to someone and didn't see her. Zippy felt her knees get a little weak and her heart beat rapidly. It was one of the few things she liked about this place, this mysterious attractive guy. She didn't even know his name, but she'd seen him twice since that day, and both times she'd had the same reaction.

She bit her lip, wondering if she should go up and talk to him, when he looked up and noticed her. He smiled at her, that same goddamn irresistible smile from before, and then, to Zippy's delight and horror, he started coming towards her.

She tensed up, and wondered if she should just back away and disappear into the crowd. She chided herself, this was stupid: She'd had lots of boyfriends before; she'd gone after and landed all sorts of guys that made her weak in the knees, made her heart go pitter patter, and did other things to her that were really nobody's business. What was it about this one that made her act like a twelve year old with a crush? She knew how to talk to guys, she wasn't awkward, she could do this.

The Unknown Boy walked up to her, "Hi."

"Haaaaa." Zippy said, the words sticking in her mouth like glue.

Oh no, this wasn't going well already. She felt her face get warm. Oh crap! She was blushing.

He gave her a puzzled looked but went on, "You're Zippy, right? Zippy Zipperdale? The one who won that Hawking competition?"

Zippy opened her mouth to say "Yes, that was me" but what came out was and a stream of giggles and a rapid nod. She actually felt like she'd been lobotomized. What the heck was wrong with her, her attraction for this guy was overriding all her senses?

"Well, I'm Kyle. Kyle Tordenholler." He said offering his hand, "Nice to meet you."

Zippy took it, unleashing another torrent of idiotic giggles that seemed to flow unbidden from her mouth, "Nice to meet you, Kyle."

She felt her heart beat faster in her chest and a slight, giddy thrill ran through her. She finally knew his name: Kyle! Kyle Tordenholler! Zippy and Kyle! Kyle and Zippy! MRS. ZIPPY TORDENHOLLER! Zippy blocked the absurd 'happily ever after' fantasies that started dancing around in her head. She needed to get a grip on herself.

For a split second, she didn't know what else to say. She had a whole head full of interesting things to talk about, and she could access none of them as her whole mental facilities felt like they were freezing up, as if her brain was running Windows Vista.

Finally, she blurted out, "What brings you to the dining hall?"

Argh! What the hell kind of stupid thing was that to say!? He came to the dining hall to eat, dumbass! She had the perfect opportunity to talk to Kyle and she was blowing it like a hay fever sufferer blows his nose.

"Actually," He said, "I've seen you around, but I hadn't had a chance to talk to you. I just wanted to tell you; that Noggin Bopper thing? I thought that was pretty cool."

"Really? You did?" Zippy said, realizing she sounded like blithering idiot, "You really liked the Boggin Nopper?"

An imaginary newscaster appeared in Zippy's mind announcing 'Today the jackass of the year award was given to Zippy Zipperdale of Madame Petri's School For The Gifted And Eccentric. The award, which honors excellence in stupidity, was given to Miss Zipperdale who simply said 'Duhrr' and started drooling.' Oh my god, this was a disaster in every way possible.

"Yeah," Kyle went on, apparently unfazed by Zippy's behavior, "A lot of people don't really appreciate the mechanics of folding up something so big into something so small."

"Oh thank you! You're so cool, Kyle!" Zippy gushed.

That's it! Zippy thought, shoot me now. Just shoot me in the head; I'm as dumb as a zombie anyways. Just blow my brains out and bury me in the fruit cellar. Take me out of my goddamn misery. Jesus Christ, what else could go wrong?

Suddenly, Amber shoved herself between Zippy and Kyle, her eyes ablaze with rage.

"You!" She snarled, crinkling up her face in a way that made her look like a Chinese pug, "I wanna talk to you."

Zippy sighed, "Amber, you're in luck: I don't have time to kick you ass right now."

Damnit, why hadn't she thought of anything that cleaver to say to Kyle?

"Listen, you." Amber jutted a well manicured finger at Zippy's chest, getting a little too close for comfort, "I'm already sick of what you're doing to Cristobel."

"Just get him to leave me alone and we're aces." Zippy rolled her eyes.

"You're distracting him." Amber insisted, "You and all your idiotic little attempts to show him up. He's spending way too much time obsessing about how to be better then you, and he hasn't got the time for me, er, us."

"Cristobel's a genius. He just invented a way to re-grow human tissue. Why would he be so threatened by me? I know he hates women and all . . . "

Amber gritted her teeth, "Cristobel does not hate women!"

"You've gotta be kidding! How can you miss it?" Zippy through her hands up.

"Whatever you're doing to him, stop it! You're just a vile little piece of vermin, and if you don't stop, I'm going to crush you under my shoe."

"I'm not doing anything to him! He just keeps coming at me."

"There's no way I'm going to let my Cristobel get hurt. No by anyone, and especially not by some half wit, stuck up, flat chested beggar . . ."

The Noggin Bopper popped out in Zippy's hand so fast that Amber didn't realize she'd opened it until the hard flat edge was colliding painfully with her forehead. There was a loud, agonizing slapping sound as the mallet connected with Amber's face, sending her flying backwards and crashing painfully to the floor, sending chairs flipping over on their ends. She lay on the ground, her eyes wide and unfocused as a nasty looking welt already began to form on her forehead.

Tiffany stared down at her, "Oh, uh, you okay, Amber?"

Amber mumbled, "Thank you, Nathan, I'll have the asparagus."

"I guess not." Tiffany shrugged.

There was a little bit of cheering, and Zippy retracted the noggin bopper, putting it back in her pocket. She kicked herself mentally again for letting Amber get the better of her. Still, smacking the bitch upside the head had felt really, really good. Zippy smiled in spite of herself.

"See?" Kyle called over the gathered crowd, "I told you it was cool."

And then, Zippy's dream guy was gone, lost in the crowd of students who all rushed with open pens to write nasty messages on the unconscious Amber's arms, legs and face until the Werx came over and shoed them away.

Zippy sighed again, the day was just getting started and already it was a nightmare: She acted like a jerk in front of Kyle, and she'd acted like a barbarian in front of the whole school. Things could only get worse from here on. She walked off, out of the dinning hall, heading for her first class of the morning: Which she was dreading most of all.

Zippy's first class was Robotic Weaponry Development with Miss Gojira. Unlike the other teachers, Miss Gojira held her class outdoors, in a specially made area just for her particular topic of instruction: Wide wooden desks were set out under an awning that kept them in the shade in a half circle in front of a podium and black board from which she taught her class. Behind the blackboard, a large scale miniature city was laid out, accurate down to the most minuet detail, in which the robotic creations were demonstrated.

Miss Gojira was a Japanese woman with long, strait black hair, and a long narrow face. She was also heavily into cosplay, and as such taught her classes dressed in a variety of outlandish costumes, as if every day was Halloween. Today's was a little restrained, she was dressed in a traditional Japanese school girl outfit, despite the fact that she was all too obviously in her early forties. It didn't seem to bother her, though, and she had hiked up her skirt to show a little leg, engaging the appreciation of any student who might have happened to have a thing for MILFs.

This particular class was one Zippy had particularly dreaded today, as it was the one where she had to give a demonstration; a demonstration of a robot that she was not altogether sure of. The thing had worked fine in the trials, but there were far too many variables for her to be at all confident of its functionality. But she'd run out of time, and this was all she had to show. If she was extremely lucky, maybe she could squeak by with a C on this thing. Her creation had an anthropomorphic torso on a tank like lower section complete with treads. To keep the complex maneuvering working the way it was supposed to, the robot had a rather large hard drive set into it's chest, which Zippy had also found useful for storing music and movies she might want for later.

Miss Gojira addressed the class in a pronounced Japanese accent, with broken English, "And now crass, Gojira-sensei have very special plesentation. Zippy-chan now demonstlate her new creation, the Zipbot 001."

"Miss Gojira . . . ?" Zippy began.

"Zipbot rarge and very compricated mecha, and Zippy-chan work very hard on it, so we all give rots and rots of encouragement, okie dokie?"

"Miss Gojira . . . ?"

"Now, as always, lobot go in tiny city, and prick out designated targets onry. Glades on acculacy, fuctionarity, and on total kick ass destructiveness, so ret's start, okie dokie?"

"Miss Gojira . . . ?"

"Hai, Zippy-chan?"

"Why are you talking like that?" Zippy wanted to know.

"Gojira-sensei spreak rarguage of game!" She replied enthusiastically.

"You speak perfect English. You're twelfth generation Japanese American; you've never even set foot in Japan." Zippy complained.

Miss Gojira's shoulders slumped a bit as she grimaced in disappointment, the phony accent disappearing, "Well aren't you just Little Miss Buzzkill today. Can't you seem I'm enjoying my role playing?"

"I think it might offend some people." Zippy explained.

"Fine, fine. Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities." Miss Gojira waved her off, "And here I put on my best _Sukeban Dekka_ outfit. Oh well, let's get on with it, shall we? Let's see what this thing can do? Are you ready, Zippy?"

In point of fact, Zippy wasn't ready at all, but she nodded in the affirmative. The robot she had constructed was a large human shaped body, cannibalized from a damaged Werx, on a wide platform driven by two treads. She'd thought the thing was working fine, but she'd encountered some problems when some of the movies she'd stored on it began affecting its performance. She cleared all of them off the HD, at least she thought she had, but she still wasn't sure of it.

Holding the remote control, which resembled a modified RC car controller, which in fact it was, Zippy took a deep breath and powered up the Zipbot. There was a loud whine as the machine started, and then very carefully, Zippy guided her creation towards the city. Several building lit up as targets and Zippy armed the shoulder missiles.

With a whoosh the small rockets streaked from the launch tubes on the Zipbot's shoulders and flew towards the first building, leaving a trail of smoke. They collided with the small model, detonating with a loud explosion. Smoke and fire plowed through the target and razed the building to the ground. The miniature fell to pieces, showering the city with smoke and debris.

"Oooo!" Miss Gojira cooed in delight.

For the second target, Zippy switched to the wrist lasers. The Zipbot raised its hands, and two green beams of concentrated light blasted at the second target, cutting through the building. The structure quickly destabilized and the building imploded, dropping into the ground like a demolition team drop, leaving in its wake a tower of dust and debris.

Switching to the chest saw, Zippy began to advance on the third target when suddenly, the robot stopped responding. Zippy felt all the color drain out of her face, no, this couldn't be happening, not now. The robot began to shake and shudder and then seemed to shut down. She frantically tried to fiddle with the controls, but got no response.

"I don't know . . ." Zippy began.

She was suddenly interrupted as the Zipbot suddenly came back to life and turned around to them.

"Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" The robot bellowed in a deep voice.

Oboy! It looked like she'd forgotten to delete Lost In Space. The Zipbot rolled in the direction of the class, waving its arms.

"Destroy Jupiter One! Destroy Robinson Family!" It bellowed.

When it armed the shoulder missiles, the whole class went running for cover screaming. There was the familiar whoosh and the robot launched two missiles, which struck the first two desks in the front row. The explosion sent waves of hot air and wooden debris in the direction of Zippy and Miss Gojira, blowing their skirts up and exposing Miss Gojira's Hello Kitty panties. Zippy tried to shut it down frantically, but was having no luck.

"Danger! Danger! Warning! Warning! It does not compute!" The Zipbot roared, arming its wrist lasers.

Finally, as the Zipbot began to cut through a third desk with its lasers, Zippy gave up and tossed the controller aside, running up behind the Zipbot and yanking out the main power cable. There was a loud buzz and a crackle of arching electricity as she ripped the cable from its housing. Small fires spewed and belched smoke from inside the machine. She got a tremendous shock in the process, causing her red hair to stand on end, and was showered with smoke as the electricity vaulted, but the Zipbot shuddered and trembled as it lost power.

"Daaaaiiiiisy . . . daaaaiiiisy . . . giiiiivvve me your annnnnswer . . . do . . ." It sang as its voice slowed down and stopped.

Zippy staggered back, twitching a little from the shock, her hair a mess standing on end and her face streaked black from the smoke. She felt like crawling in a hole and never coming out. The other students began to come out of hiding, looking comically like the munchkins from _The Wizard Of Oz_ as they did. They slowly returned to the class area, shooting Zippy bad looks as they did while Zippy's project continued to smoke and spark. Zippy felt as gutted and burned out on the inside as the Zipbot looked.

Composing herself, and smoothing down her skirt; Miss Gojira hastily fixed her hair and then stepped forward.

"Well, class," She said in mock enthusiasm, "Can anyone tell me who's going to be getting an F on their project today?"

Zippy raised her hand in defeated despondency, "I am."

It was all she could do not to cry. So, Zippy? Guns, pills, or noose?

Zippy was not looking forward to her next class, Genetic Manipulation with Mr. DeSade, any more then the previous one, but for a very different reason: She had it with Cristobel Bell. Granted, she also had the class with Rina/Madoka, which was fun and she like having either one of them there for support, but having Cristobel around really made things difficult. And it was going to be no fun today, since he was giving a presentation of an extra credit assignment.

Mr. DeSade's class was set up a little bit differently the most of the others. Instead of the standard rectangular design, DeSade's classroom looked like an old fashioned medical school. A rectangular raised area sat in front with a desk to the side at a diagonal angle and long wooden table for demonstrations, all in front of an old style chalk board. The desks were in a half circle around the stage in front, raised in stadium style levels.

Zippy sat blearily watching from her desk next to Rina as Cristobel droned on and on about his experiment, augmenting most of it with self congratulatory statements pertaining to his brilliance. It had been interesting at first, truly a brilliant design, but Cristobel seemed incapable of keeping his more arrogant personality traits out of the proceedings. What he was planning to do, in a nut shell, was his personal instant Jurassic Park, he was going to use a modification of a device he'd invented for something else to clone a small herbivorous dinosaur, in this case an Ornithopod, from 70 million year old dinosaur blood. What set this apart from the other cloning done in the school was the quick amount of time it could be done in (much quicker then the time it was taking him to explain it), just a few minutes as opposed to the months it had taken Mr. Carcharias to create Megan and Morgan. As he continued to drone endlessly about how great he was, until Zippy though maybe he should clone himself instead so he could shack up with himself in motel somewhere, Zippy was not the only one getting bored.

At his desk, Mr. DeSade looked at his watch. He was tall French man who spoke with a bit of an accent. He had long wavy black hair, and wore a full, but neatly trimmed, beard. He had piercing blue eyes and a long, hooked nose, that gave him an intense, authoritative appearance, matched only by Mr. Innsmouth (given the choice, Zippy would rather deal with Mr. DeSade).

He dressed entirely in black, with a long dark over coat that made him look sort of like a detective out of an old film noir. He stared at Cristobel, sighing a bit as his student continued to over explain his device, which resembled a space age microwave oven in its general size and shape.

He finally interrupted, "Please, Mr. Bell. I'm sure Einstein didn't take this long to explain the theory of relativity."

Bell bit his lip in frustration, not liking his self decreed thunder to be stolen, but he cut to the case, "And so, without further ado . . ."

"Thank the pagan gods." Zippy muttered.

". . . I give you, the first cloned dinosaur of its kind to walk the Earth in over 70 million years!"

Cristobel threw a switch on the machine, and it began to hum. Lights and dials flashed all over it and the something began to stir inside. It continued to hum and flash as the small mass inside began to get bigger. The machine continued its operations until finally it dinged, exactly like a microwave oven, and the door in front popped open, letting a long metal tray slide out. On it, a white gelatinous mass was pushing and swelling, getting bigger and bigger as it began to take shape.

Larger and larger the mass got, and very quickly, most of them were starting to realize that the mass was getting way to big to be an Ornithopod. The mass fell off the tray onto the floor, expanding and pulsing as it took shape. Most of the students and Mr. DeSade as well stood up in alarm. Cristobel was backing away himself as the legs and arms formed and the white mass began to change color and texture forming the skin.

The mass finished its formation and the dinosaur stood before them. It wasn't a small herbivore . . . it was a Velociraptor!

Everyone ran screaming for the back of the classroom, people hid behind their desks as the six foot carnivore rasped and hissed, looking warily back and forth. Its eyes narrowed as it brain, hardwired to kill, spotted a multitude of potential prey. The raptor made a low growling sound, menacing and malicious. Cristobel stared at his creation, all the color having drained form his face. Zippy felt a pair of hands behind her waist and realized that Rina was hiding behind her. Great, she was now a human shield, thanks a lot Rina.

And then, as it attempted to move forward, the raptor's behavior changed. It began to wobble on its legs, stumbling and swaying sideways. It made several pathetic, sickly moans as it moved around a bit, staggering like it was drunk. It opened its mouth, making more than a few low, gurgling sounds.

It then lowered its head and, with a sickening heaving sucking noise, vomited a foul substance all over the classroom floor.

There was a collective "Ewwww!" from the entire class. It didn't take long for the offensive odor to waft up to Zippy, who instantly clapped a hand over her mouth, the foul smell assailing her nostrils and eyes. Cristobel was holding his note pad in front of his face, a humiliated look about him.

The raptor vomited again, filling the room with pungent stench, and then let out one last long wail of despair before falling over to floor. It twitched once, and then died, its yellow eyes rolling up in its head.

Mr. DeSade looked at the corpse and then turned his attention to Cristobel, "Mr. Bell, I'm very disappointed."

The understatement of the week.

There was a chorus of laughter, most of it nervous release, but Cristobel looked mortified, he tried to mumble some kind of explanation, but he just kept staring at the corpse of his project in disbelief, apparently stunned that it was possible to fail at anything. Not the best attitude for a scientist, Zippy tended to believe that you learned more from failure then you ever did from success.

Still, she couldn't help but take a shot at him, "Congratulations, Bell. You've just invented a new kind of compost. You'll be a hero to farmers across America."

Red faced and furious, Cristobel turned and stormed out of the class. At least he tried to pretend that he was storming out in huff, but to everyone, it was obvious that he was running out in humiliation.

Werx rolled into the classroom and began cleaning up as the students filed out of the room, laughing and talking about the incident. Zippy headed off towards her next class. For the first time today, she actually felt a little better after seeing that.

Late that night, Zippy was back in the library, a book opened in front of her, others sitting in high stacks around her. She was studying desperately, trying to find a way to keep out of Madame Petri's clutches. Lizzy would be joining her later, but for now, she was alone with her despondent thoughts. The situation felt hopeless, no matter what she did, and despite her genius level IQ, she couldn't seem to catch up with the others. She wondered if this was what a condemned man feels like when they strapped him into the electric chair.

She stared at the book, memorizing its contents. Absorbed in the pages, she didn't realize someone else was in the library until a shadow fell over her as she read. She looked up and jumped letting out a scream, scared suddenly out of her wits.

Eve stood right in front of her, looking down at her with those milky white eyes peering out from between her long white hair. Although she had a passive, friendly expression on her face, she still creeped Zippy out to no end.

"Eve!" Zippy complained, "Don't scare me like that!"

Eve put a finger to her lips, "Shhhh. We're in the library."

Zippy could see Eve's fangs peeking out from her mouth as she talked and she shivered. Eve was, of course, not a real vampire, simply a genetically modified human engineered to resemble the mythological vampires of lore. She aged normally, you could probably kill her any number of ways that wasn't a stake through the heart, she loved garlic, didn't mind crosses, didn't enter a home without being invited our of simple politeness not necessity and although her light sensitive skin and eyes made her abhor the sunlight, she wouldn't burn up into a pile of ash in it. None of that made her any less disturbing to be around, however.

With a mental kick to herself, Zippy chided her own superstitious aversion: Eve was a perfectly friendly girl, and a good friend of Lizzy. She was one of the group and would watch Zippy's back like the rest of them when she could. Yeah, and she drank blood; real, actual human blood. Nice girl, but she was so bizarre that it was difficult not to fear her.

"What's up, Eve?" Zippy asked, forcing a friendly smile.

"I heard about today's mishap." She whispered in her soft, sinister voice, "I hope you don't let that get to you."

Zippy sighed, "Its hard not to."

"I believe in you, Zippy." Eve affirmed, "We all do. You will find your stride. Please don't give up hope. Just remember, there isn't much that's cheating at Petri's. Don't despair."

Eve gave her an encouraging, if fang laden, smile, and moved off into the rest of the library. Zippy sighed, looking back at her books. She wished she had the same kind of confidence in herself that Eve had in her. She went back to her studying, perusing the pages intently.

After a time, she gathered up the books and began to return them one by to various places about the library; the last one she took to a small out of the way aisle, under a large balcony. The shelf she'd found it at was right next to a bare patch of wall that was decorated by a gargoyle's head mounted on wall. It was an impish looking construction, with horns, pointed ears, and a large waggling tongue. Zippy thought the mask looked almost comical rather then scary. The most interesting touch was it eyes, mad of some kind of crystal, shiny and smooth, giving the thing an almost life like appearance.

As Zippy went to put the book back she noticed something behind it in the empty slot: A small protruding metal disk the size of a button, with a fancy "Z" in the center in raised metal. Curious, Zippy looked at it, not knowing what to make of it. She reached in and ran her finger over the disk, feeling it. To her surprise, the disk sunk into the wall as she touched it. She retracted her finger, shocked at first.

There was a faint clicking sound, somewhere behind the wall, and to Zippy's astonishment, the wall with the mask on it slid open, moving outwards a little bit, revealing some kind of hidden room behind it. Looking around, she made sure no one else had seen what happened. Her curiosity peaked; she opened the door a little and slipped in. The door closed behind her. She hoped she would be able to open it again.

She found herself in a low lit small room, dusty, as if no one had been in here for a while. The walls were lined with shelves full of books of different sizes. The far opposite wall had another blank spot, and a small metal hexagon with an eye carved into the middle decorated it. Zippy regarded it with inquisitiveness, reaching out and touching it. Nothing happened this time, and Zippy noticed a small key hole in the middle. This was a lock of some kind. What could be hidden on the other side, she wondered?

Glancing around at the hidden library, she began to leaf through some of the books. It didn't take her long to make an astonishing realization: The knowledge in these books was far in advance of anything she'd found in the library so far. All of the books contained information and formulas that went far beyond anything taught anywhere in the school. Completely by chance, she had discovered a treasure trove of forbidden knowledge.

A sly smile spread across Zippy's face as she realized that this was the edge that she had been looking for. With these books, she could really save her own ass, to say nothing of getting great marks. She quickly gathered up some books of interest and shoved them in her bag.

When she looked at the door, she found a small latch on the side to open it, and noticed that the mask on the other end was meant to be looked through from this side: Those glass eyes were large peep holes. Checking through them, Zippy made sure that no one else was there, and she quickly exited the hidden library.

She moved down the rows, heading for the main lobby where she was to meet Lizzy. As she did, she passed Eve again, who was hanging upside down from the balcony, having hooked her feet under the railing. She was busy reading a book as she hung there bat like. Her white hair fell down towards the floor, and so did her skirt, revealing the black gym shorts she wore underneath, probably for this express purpose. Zippy had seen her read hanging upside down like this before, but it was still a strange sight.

"Goodbye, Eve." Zippy said as she passed.

"Shhhhhh." Eve admonished her again, "Good night, Zippy."

Moving quickly moved across the library, her heart beating rapidly. For the first time in days, she had real hope. She was actually quite excited about some of what she found, and couldn't wait to get to work on some of it, her mind already working on ways to put some of what she'd read to use. She even had a skip in her step as she moved, walking out of the aisles and heading into the lobby.

She spied Lizzy, patiently waiting for her on one of the tables, a book on forensic entomology open in front of her. She looked up when Zippy approached.

"There you are." She said in customary monotone, "Where were you?"

"You are not gonna believe what I found." Zippy said sliding in next to Lizzy and whispering.

She quickly outlined what she had found, watching as Lizzy raised her eyebrows higher and higher, the only clue she usually gave as to when she was intrigued by anything. When Zippy finished her story, Lizzy looked at her with and excited gleam in her eyes, if the rest of her face remained blank.

"I've never heard of this hidden library." Lizzy said, "It must be a pretty well kept secret if nobody's been in there for a while."

"I know." Zippy said, "And in any event, this is what I've been looking for. This could really save my skin."

"Then I suggest we keep this between ourselves." Lizzy replied, touching her pen to her lips thoughtfully, "Don't tell anyone, not even the others in our group."

Zippy nodded, "Agreed."

As they got up and exited the library, Zippy contemplated her stroke of luck. At the very least, if she could keep the place quiet, this would keep her out of Madame Petri's lab hopefully until she graduated, or at least until she found some legal way out of the school. She felt almost like a gambler who won the lottery after loosing all his savings at the crap tables. She smiled, she did, indeed, have a fresh chance at things, and since nobody at Madame Petri's cared about how you got results, she wasn't actually cheating, technically.

Her smile faded as she head Lizzy yelp right after they stepped through the library doors. Zippy turned and was startled to see Lizzy collapsing to the floor, unconscious. Something seemed to be sticking out of her neck. Alarmed, Zippy reached for her friend to help her and suddenly felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck. She reached up and felt the soft cone of feathers on the end of a tranquilizer dart.

Zippy tried to run back into the library, to get Eve to help her, but the world spun and dropped form under her feet. Before she even made it to the door, she collapsed on top of Lizzy, the world fading into black as she succumbed to the drugs, sinking into oblivion.

When they were both down, Cristobel quickly leapt out of the shadows, followed by Amber, Tiffany and Charity. They scurried over to the unconscious girls rolling Zippy off of her friend. Checking around to make sure no one else was there, they each got on one side of the two knocked out forms on the floor.

Cristobel hissed, "Okay, we're going to do it in Operating Room 20, it's the closest, and it's empty. Hurry up, let's go before the dumb bitches wake up."

Cristobel took Zippy's arms and Amber her legs, leaving Tiffany and Charity to pick up Lizzy. Hurriedly, they moved down the hall with their unconscious captives, looking around to make sure that no one saw them as they spirited their captures away for whatever operation Cristobel had in mind.

They failed to notice Jetson, watching from around the corner, his cephalopodan eyes filled with alarm and so much rage.

Zippy came to almost instantly, suddenly waking up with a pounding headache. When she tried to move, she couldn't, her arms and legs restrained by something. She opened her eyes, squinting and took in her surroundings. She was in a white, tiled room, a large medical lamp over her. She was strapped tightly to a metal table, brown straps tied across her limps and chest so tight that they dug into her skin. Her clothes were gone, replaced with a standard Madame Petri's lime green hospital gown.

She could see Lizzy next to her, in the same condition. With a numbing sense of revolting horror, Zippy realized that she was in an operating room: They'd been kidnapped for an experiment!

She struggled against the bonds, but they wouldn't budge. Figures moved around them, dressed in the customary red surgical scrubs that were used at Petri's. Even under the red mask and hat, Zippy recognized Cristobel's eyes. A surge of anger and fear coursed through her, she struggled even harder, the straps digging painfully into her skin.

"She's awake." She heard Tiffany say, slightly muffled through the surgical mask.

"Hey, Zipperdale." Cristobel said, "Thank you so much for volunteering. For once, you might be useful for something."

"Goddamnit, Bell. Let us go!" Zippy shrieked angrily at him.

"I think not. Your and your dull friend there are about to take part in surgical history. There's no need to thank me." Cristobel chortled arrogantly.

All the blood seemed to drain out of Zippy's face. Her worst nightmare of this school was coming true: She had been kidnapped for an experiment.

Zippy frantically looked around her, hoping for some means of escape. She noticed her and Lizzy's backpacks sitting in a corner, inside a clear plastic box of some kind (probably to preserve the sterile conditions), with their clothes folded up neatly next to them. Fortunately, Cristobel hadn't bothered to open her backpack. Zippy then noticed her clothes, including her underwear, sitting next to them and looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing.

"What the hell? Bell did you undress us!?" She spat angrily at him, redness flushing her face.

"Please don't flatter yourself. I had the girls take care of that unpleasant task." Cristobel waved her off.

Amber sneered, "It wasn't like I actually wanted to see your flat chest."

With no snappy comebacks at the time, Zippy simply filled the air with an _Exorcist_ like torrent of obscenities that might have made Andrew Dice Clay blush, struggling fiercely against the bonds.

Lizzy mumbled, still woozy, "Why couldn't you just peep on us in the shower like normal people?"

"What the hell are you going to do to us?" Zippy demanded furiously.

"Well that's the kicker," Cristobel told her, "You are about to be the subjects of the word's first head transplant. Specifically, you are going to have your heads surgically swapped. Amazing isn't, one of my more brilliant procedures, and between you and me, that's saying a lot."

Lizzy stared at them, "You're kidding. Bell, that's ridiculous, that will never work."

"Oh, I beg to differ," Cristobel waved a finger at her, "I'd say there's a seventy percent chance that both of you will survive the procedure."

Zippy didn't care for those odds very much.

"Bell I'm gonna kick your ass even if I have to do it with Lizzy's feet!" She screamed, pushing against the straps in fury.

"Hush, hush." Cristobel admonished her, "You'll give yourself wrinkles. Don't worry, you'll wake up fine with a nice new body. Just think, you'll be closer to your room mate then ever."

Cristobel went to the tray and picked up a large syringe filled with anesthetic. He approached Zippy first, getting closer and closer with the needle. Horror filled every limb in her body as she tried in vein to escape from the straps as Cristobel came closer and closer to her with the needle. Despair filled her belly as he approached, despair and sheer unrelenting hopelessness.

With a sudden loud bang, the door to the OR flew open and something lurched its self into the room, scurrying across the floor. Zippy couldn't quite see what it was, but it moved fast in Cristobel's direction. There was a blur of movement and something leapt at Cristobel, snarling angrily.

Nadjia Farrell sank her teeth hard into Cristobel's wrist, biting down fiercely on his hand, thrashing her head and tearing into him deeper. He screamed in pain, reflexively dropping the syringe and trying to pull his hand back. Nadjia let go, dropping to the floor on all fours.

She growled at him savagely, her teeth bared in anger. She crouched on all fours, her natural state, advancing on him slowly. Her eyes blazed with primordial rage, fierce and predatory, the cutesy fun girl personae she usually wore buried under the primitive fervor she now carried. The wolf in her had risen completely to the surface. She was primal, and savage, untamed and of the wild.

And she probably would have looked a lot more threatening if she hadn't been wearing two piece flannel pajamas covered in pictures of kittens AND fluffy bunny slippers on both her feet.

Cristobel shrank back, clutching his injured hand, warily glaring at Nadjia. There was another growl, and two more figures came through the door: One was Katjia, growling ferociously, on all fours and dressed almost identically to her sister except that her pajamas had puppies all over them. The other was Rina or Madoka, she couldn't tell which, dressed in a long flannel nightgown.

Katjia ran in and charged at Amber and Charity, her savage growl coming out from between clenched teeth. Amber, for all her haughty bravado, had always been a little frightened of the Farrell twins. She shrieked like a banshee as Katjia sank her teeth into her leg, biting hard and sending her stumbling to the floor before turning on Charity and doing the same thing.

Rina/Madoka ran to the surgical tables, but Tiffany blocked her way, trying to shove her back.

"Let go of my friends you big meanie!" She screamed at Tiffany.

That was definitely Rina.

"Make me!" Tiffany shrieked at her, and then turned on Katjia when she saw Amber fall, "Hey! You leave her alone!"

Tiffany hadn't noticed the small wooden tube in Rina's hand. Zippy's Noggin Bopper was out in a flash and she brought it down hard on Tiffany's head while she was distracted. Tiffany flew backwards as the mallet hit her square in the forehead with an agonizing snap. She flew into the wall, banging the back side of her head, and sunk to the floor, out cold.

While the twins kept the other three busy, Rina unstrapped Zippy and Lizzy quickly. Zippy got off the table, her arms and legs sore from her struggles.

"Thanks. That was pretty bad assed, Rina, I didn't know . . ." Zippy started.

Dodging around Katjia, Amber threw herself violently at Zippy, pushing her back down on the table. They struggled with each other and clawed at each other, Zippy finally shoving Amber backwards. Amber lunged and Zippy threw a hard left hook, years of martial arts training came into focus, although Zippy was no kung fu master, she was more then a match for Amber.

Amber dodged the punch and tried to strike back. Their fists flew at each other in rapid motions. Amber was an armature compared to Zippy, but she fought her furiously, angrily, eyes blazing full of hate. She hated Zippy for what she'd done to Cristobel, distracting him from her, making him moody and miserable. She threw punches backed by her rage and frustration.

Zippy ducked under a punch and kicked hard into Amber's stomach. Amber grunted as the wind was knocked out of her. Zippy delivered two hard blows to her adversary's (fake) chest, and then followed up with a left-right combo directly into Amber's face. Amber collapsed to the ground, clutching her mouth. Two of her front teeth clattered to the floor as blood poured from her jaws.

"My feefth!" Amber gurgled, "Yoff brokft my fookn feefth!"

Cristobel tried to skirt around Nadjia who bit at his leg snagged his pants in the process. In a rage, Cristobel grabbed some tool off the tray, getting ready to hurl it at Zippy. Zippy couldn't see what he'd picked up, but got ready to jump out of its way anyways.

She needn't have worried: As Cristobel threw his arm back a jet of black ink hit him square in the face, coming from Jetson who had scurried up on one of the tables and taken aim while Cristobel was busy with Nadjia.

"Don't hurt my Zippy!" Jetson cried angrily.

Zippy pried open the plastic case and grabbed her backpack and clothes out. Lizzy ran and did the same. With a quick darting move, she scooped up Amber's teeth off the floor before she could get them.

"They're mine now!" She hissed at her.

As the whole group tore out the door, Cristobel, staggering with a face full of ink, shook his fist at Zippy in a rage.

"Damn you, Zipperdale!" He bellowed, "I'll get you back for this! I swear!"

Over her shoulder, Zippy called, "You and your snaggle toothed girl friend are welcome to try."

With a squeal of victory, Jetson leapt onto Zippy's shoulder, and they all took off running, putting a much distance between themselves and Bell's crew as possible. They turned down hallway after hallway, the twins running on all fours, the sounds of slippers and bare feet padding along the floor. When they were finally sure they were not being followed, they stopped, everyone panting for breath.

"Thank you, guys." Zippy said when she was able, "Thank you so much. How did you know where we were, anyways?"

Rina said, "Jetson got us. I guess he saw them take you a followed them. Then came and got us waving his tentacles and everything. I guess he's really taken a shine to you."

"My hero." Zippy said affectionately, and kissed Jetson's cone.

Jeston waved his tentacles happily, "My pleasure, Zippy."

Lizzy interjected, "Well, in light of the troublesome new turn of events, I suggest we all stick together and never go anywhere except in pairs at least for the time being, at least until Cristobel gets over this."

"If he ever does." Zippy mentioned, "That was more about some kind of half assed revenge then science: You notice he didn't have a teacher present? He hadn't cleared that experiment with anyone, he just did it himself. He's probably blaming me for that disaster in Mr. DeSade's class. Couldn't admit to getting an F on his own."

The Farrell's had gotten up and two legs and were walking beside the others.

Katjia spoke up, "Oh, didn't you hear? He got an A on that."

"What?" Zippy looked at her, "How? All it did was barf and die?"

"It seems his father gave Mr. DeSade a call, and suddenly the grade changed." Nadjia said, "I guess he was calling in a favor."

Zippy rolled her eyes, "Damn, he bought a grade? That's not science, that's sleazy backdoor politics."

They arrived back at the dorm rooms, where Zippy and Lizzy thanked the rest again for, literally, saving their necks. They then retired to their room. As they started getting ready for bed, Zippy found a large bouquet of flowers sitting on the night stand next to her bed. She picked them up, frowning.

"Lizzy, look at this." She told her room mate.

"That's interesting." Lizzy said looking over the flowers, "Is there a card?"

"Nope." Zippy replied.

A slight smile flittered over Lizzy's face, "Perhaps you've got a secret admirer? Have you any idea who it might be?"

"Not a clue." Zippy said, smiling.

_But I know who I want it to be,_ Zippy thought, feeling her face grow warm.

She flopped down on the bed, clutching the flowers to her chest, allowing herself a dizzying amount of romantic fantasy about Kyle being her secret admirer, imagining the two of them meeting in secret for a forbidden torrid love affair. She giggled slightly, blushing at the thoughts that ran pleasantly though her head.

At the foot of her bed, Jetson watched happily as Zippy clutched the flowers he had gotten for her, beaming with pride that she appreciated them.

The next day, Cristobel and his groupies looked battered and disheartened, appearing both bruised and defeated, spreading much gossip around the school, which Zippy and her friends were happy to feed with the most outlandish explanations they could think up. Cristobel fumed all day, his mind set on one thing: How he would get back at those two for humiliating him like this.

Out of all of them, Tiffany looked the worst; a huge bruise adorned her forehead where Rina had hit her with the Noggin Bopper, and she looked depressed and despondent. After the escape, since she was lying there unconscious, the rest of her "friends" had taken off, abandoning her where she lay on the floor out cold. To make matters worse, when Eve had happened by and found her lying there, she'd promptly helped her self to few pints of Tiffany's blood.

So she was not only beaten and betrayed, but slightly anemic as well. Other then that, life went on at Madame Petri's much the way it usually did.

**Greetings to you, this is Lizzy. Next time, Zippy puts her new knowledge to work and starts to find her footing, but Cristobel hasn't forgotten what she did to him (which is fitting because we haven't forgotten what he tried to do to us), and plots his revenge in the next chapter of **_**Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist**_**: "The Third Experiment".**

**Eureka. I've got it.**


	3. The 3rd Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST-**

**THE THIRD EXPERIMENT**

**By Hardcover**

Late at night in the long dark hallway leading away from the school library, one Zippy Zipperdale strolled along surrounded by her friends on either side. Specifically, she was with her room mate Lizzy Malaria, and the Farrell Twins Katjia and Nadjia. As had been their general rule ever since Cristobel's attempted kidnapping and experimentation, no one in the group went anywhere, especially late at night, without a few other to watch their back. The danger was very real, for who knew what demented ideas Bell, or any one of the other students for that matter, might have in mind for an unsuspecting "volunteer" in the glorified insane asylum that Zippy now called her school.

They strolled along, chatting amiably as was their way, when Zippy suddenly noticed something as she passed an intersecting hallway. She stopped, looking into the darkened hall, at the very end.

"Hey, what's that?" She asked.

The others came over, looking where she had pointed.

"What's what?" Lizzy asked unemotionally as always.

"I thought I saw something at the end of the hall." Zippy explained.

Squinting her eyes and peering into the gloom, Lizzy said, "I don't see anything now."

"I could have sworn I saw something down there; just for a second." Zippy insisted.

Both twins got down on all fours and leaned into the hall, sniffing the air, their sensitive nostrils flaring as they searched for an unusual scent. They found nothing.

The four of them continued on their way, but Zippy kept looking back over her shoulder. She was sure she had seen something at the end of that hall, just for a moment: A large man like shadow that scurried down the passageway hunched over like some simian beast, but with wide saucer like eyes that reflected, just for a moment, in the otherwise stark darkness.

The city was quiet in the early afternoon; its large modern skyscrapers towering above it, catching the rays of the sun in their windows so that they seemed to almost sparkle with life. All was quiet and normal as cars moved endlessly along the many freeways and one or two planes flew overhead. The city sprawled out like they often do, separated in several districts, connected by a dizzying grid of roads and highways linking together residential areas, business parks, and industrial districts; and everything else that went to make up a modern metropolis of the world, dominated by its large monolithic buildings that seemed to cut through the sky in their relative immensity to the rest of the city.

The first signs of a disturbance came from the port: something huge and immense came rising out of the water, lurching out of the sea with a violent, penetrative rise that sent waves of disturbed water crashing towards the docks with tsunami like intensity. The water hit the ships that were idling in port with the force of a liquid brick wall, shoving them inland, obliterating the docks into so much kindling and demolishing beach front property and the huge walls of water carried the long cruise ships and commercial tankers over the docks and sent then careening into the buildings beyond with devastating results.

The culprit stood impressively against the skyline: A giant metal monstrosity that dwarfed most of the skyscrapers in an instant. The robot was heavily armored form head to toe, a wicked triangular head set against and wide, squat metallic body, backed by large, thick metal dome that resembled a turtle's shell. Two arms extended from the shoulders, riddled with various offensive weaponry. At its base, instead two legs, it possessed eight large spider like appendages that each ended in nasty looking spikes.

The robot lurched forward and incredible speed, coming ashore and making mincemeat of the houses in it way. With a loud clank, large missile launchers extended from its shoulders, and the with a screeching sound that almost shattered the ears, the robot sent a cascade of explosive projectiles towards some of the larger structures. In good measure they exploded, quickly loosing their integrity and collapsing to the ground.

Out of its arms, large machine guns appeared, and the robot began violently hosing the other structures with gunfire with devastating, cataclysmic results that were spectacular to behold in their astonishing destructiveness.

I was indeed fortunate that no one actually lived in this city.

That was, of course, because it happened to be the miniature one set up in Miss Gojira's outdoor classroom. The robot was, of course, gigantic as far as the city was concerned, but was actually smaller then most average height people. The robot in question, designated the Mechagamera Zipbot 005, was being controlled by a very satisfied and proud looking Zippy Zipperdale.

Zippy had good reason to feel a little self congratulatory: It had been over a week since the disaster with the Zipbot 001, and since then Zippy had used knowledge gleaned from the hidden library to excel in her classes. In no short order, she had churned out Zipbots 002-004, each one easily erasing the memory of her grievous first attempt. And now her newest creation stomped its way through the unfortunate miniature city in fine Kaiju Eiga fashion.

Miss Gojira stood by, bouncing on her feet, clutching her notepad in her hands as she watched with the excitement of a ten year old at a Saturday matinee. She was dressed this time, as Chun Li from the Street Fighter games, which had the peculiar effect of making her look like a middle aged woman trying to recapture her youth, which, to be fair, was probably actually the case.

"This is very impressive, Zippy." Miss Gojira said as she scribbled on her note pad, "Really some of your best work yet."

"Thank you, Miss Gojira." Zippy said politely.

"Why did you go for spider legs rather then two legs or the treads you used earlier?" Her teacher asked her.

"I'll show you." Zippy said with an enthusiastic grin.

Turning the robot towards a large cluster of buildings, Zippy guided it forward and in the direction of another one behind them. As it got the cluster, the robot rose up on its legs making them as close together as it could and then easily slipped between the buildings, the bulk of the Zipbot 005 passing above the skyscrapers. It then proceeded to obliterate the target building.

"Oh! Kick ass!" Miss Gojira exclaimed happily, "A plus work Zippy, and thank you for sharing this, I haven't had this much fun all week."

Zippy let a broad grin flow across her face, thanks to the knowledge she'd gleaned from those books, she was finally finding her stride. Even starting to enjoy her school.

As class ended and Zippy packed her project away, she spied Lizzy waiting for her at the door. Quickly finishing, Zippy walked over to her friend and they fell in step with each other as they moved down the hall, chatting with each other.

"Have you heard back from your parents?" Lizzy asked her.

Zippy shrugged pulling her book bag up on her shoulder, "Yeah; they talked to a bunch of lawyers, but just like I thought, this contracts completely binding. There's no record at Coddswhollp of me even applying to them, so it's really just our word against Madame Petri's and its team of high end attorneys, so it looks like I'm stuck here."

She turned to Lizzy and smiled, giving a muscle man pose for effect, "But I don't care 'cause now I want to excel here. Now that I've found my groove, I'm gonna dominate this place."

"That's the right attitude." Lizzy said, "We should celebrate at The Manhattan Project, you still haven't been there."

"What's the big deal about that place?"

"It's the only club around, and it caters specifically to Petri's students. Come on, Zippy, it's a lot of fun. Us geeks can go wild, too, you know."

Lizzy's customary unemotional tone of voice made it difficult for Zippy to picture her "going wild", but Zippy knew there was a lot more under that cold exterior then most people ever saw.

As they walked a little further, Lizzy piped up, "Look, here comes Kyle Tordenholler."

Zippy looked up and felt a jolt of electric excitement as she saw Kyle coming their direction through the crowd from the far end of the hall. In a completely automatic motion, Zippy began fixing her hair and straitening her uniform. The ends of Lizzy's mouth turned up a bit in one of her strange smiles.

"Man, you've got it bad for him." She chortled.

Zippy blushed a little, "Oh, shut up. I do not. I'm just friendly with him."

"Oh? Okay." Lizzy said, "You know he's available, right?"

"Really!" Zippy exclaimed, hope suddenly springing up in her chest.

She saw a thin, sly grin spread across Lizzy's face: Zippy had fallen right in to her trap.

"Oh, you've got it so bad for him." Lizzy chuckled smiling.

Blushing, Zippy turned away, "Oh, alright: Yes, I'm totally crazy stupid in love with him, so what?"

"So he really is available, I didn't make that up. He broke up with Kookie Wantabe a month and a half ago and he has not been with anyone else since. Now's your chance, make your move."

"You want me to be his rebound girl?"

"He's way over her, you've got a shot. Hell, he likes you fine; he's always friendly and talkative around you. Come on, bat some eyes, show some leg, and flirt a little for Moreau's sake. Just because you're a scientist doesn't mean you're not a woman."

"Argh! I can't! I mean, I usually can; I'm not inexperienced, I've come on to lots of guys before. But something about Kyle shuts me off; I turn into a complete idiot when I'm around him. That's never happened to me before; I'm usually a perfectly capable little flit and seductress. But it's different with Kyle; it's like I get lobotomized every time I talk to him."

"That sounds pretty severe, but the only way you're going to get past it is by trying."

"Argh, I always end up sounding like a blundering idiot."

"I think you mean 'blithering idiot'."

"You see? It's starting already."

As she saw Kyle making his way and getting closer, Zippy dropped her eyes. She tried to loose herself behind the crowd, hoping maybe he wouldn't see her and then she wouldn't end up looking like a grade A moron again.

Her plan was foiled, however, by her best friend: As Kyle started moving forward and was almost at them, Zippy felt two hands on her back and without warning, Lizzy shoved her forward. She stumbled ahead, surprised at the sudden push, and smacked directly into someone's chest. She looked up and realized that Lizzy had shoved her directly into Kyle.

"Woah!" Kyle said, "Hi, Zippy. Watch your footing there."

Zippy felt her face flush red again and the icy freezing like feeling in her brain started almost immediately. She was staring up at him, and he looked at her with those spectacular eyes that seemed to draw her in, making her feel like she just wanted to melt into his chest.

"Oh! Hi, Kyle." She said, and then felt a few moronic giggles pour out of her, "Sorry."

She realized he was holding her in his arms and she suddenly jumped back, giggling and holding her hands in front of her. Her heart beat in her chest like a jack hammer. Damn, Lizzy: Why'd she have to go and put her on the spot like this? Zippy felt herself tremble a little and tried to control herself. Just be calm, she told herself, you can do this, you can talk to this guy, just be friendly and confident, and just be yourself.

All at once, she realized Kyle was talking to her. She kicked herself; she hadn't been paying any attention.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" She asked him, feeling sheepish.

"Man, you're a space cadet today." Kyle laughed, "I was saying I loved that singing barracuda you did for Mr. Carcharias' class; that was pretty cool, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Where in the world did you get the idea for that?"

That put Zippy on the spot, she couldn't tell him she'd found the procedure in the hidden library. She strained to come up with a good answer, but his face and those eyes were working their magic on her, and her thoughts seemed to scatter like leaves, replaced with bizarre fantasies about a wedding and a honeymoon involving whipped cream and a stripper pole. She shoved the day dreams aside and tried to answer him.

"Uh . . . well . . . I hate to see good fish wasted." She sputtered.

She felt like a wrecking ball had landed right on her head as soon as she realized what an incredibly stupid thing she'd just said. She suddenly felt like crawling into a whole somewhere and never coming out; maybe she could lock herself in Eve's coffin and throw away the key? Her legs felt like rubber under his gaze.

Kyle laughed, "Jesus, you're weird, Zippy."

Zippy cast her eyes on the floor, "I know."

"Well that's probably why I like you," Kyle said putting a hand on her shoulder, "See ya."

And with that, he walked off, leaving a flustered and mortified Zippy standing with her hands balled into fists. She turned and looked at her friend, and found Lizzy with an unusual ear to ear grin on her face.

"Oh man," Lizzy chortled, "I am going to rib you about that for years."

"Shut up, Lizzy." Zippy felt her face turn red.

"Seriously; we're going to be old ladies in a rest home and I'm gonna lean over and whisper 'I hate to see good fish wasted'."

"Shut up." Zippy repeated.

She sighed and slumped her shoulders, "What the hell made me say that?"

"Well, look on the bright side?" Lizzy suggested.

"What bright side?" Zippy asked.

"He did say he likes you." Lizzy pointed out.

That didn't really help. As they walked down the hall, Zippy had reached a new scientific conclusion: Love makes you stupid.

As they continued down the hall, something caught Zippy's attention: Standing against the wall on the right side was Charity Milquetoast, laughing and talking amiably with Rick Milhouse. It was the first time Zippy had ever really seen her pay any attention to Rick, despite the way he followed her around like an obedient puppy. As she got closer, she noted Charity's body language and realized with a bit of a surprise that she was flirting with him. Rick looked happier then Zippy had ever seen him, an actual smile on his face instead of his usual dour expression.

Lizzy whispered in Zippy's ear, "Wow, I guess Charity isn't a hopeless Bellophile like we thought."

And then, Amber Tiffendorf came down the hallway, flanked as usual by Tiffany Debutante and everything suddenly changed: Charity stood up rigidly and made a hasty goodbye to Rick before falling in line like a wind up toy alongside Amber and Tiffany. Rick's face dropped back into his previous miserable expression, skulking off like he wanted to go shoot himself as the rigors of the Cristobel groupies' social structure quickly reasserted itself.

As Amber came by in the direction of Zippy and Lizzy, swaggering arrogantly down the hallway like some kind of bizarre mixture of Paris Hilton and Al Capone, Zippy couldn't resist taking a dig at her, gripping the tube that housed the Noggin Bopper just in case.

"Hi, Amber." Zippy said politely, tapping the front of her teeth, "I love your new caps."

Amber's response was a hard glare. Zippy pulled the small black leather cord she was wearing out of her blouse, revealing the necklace she had fashioned herself out of Amber's two knocked out teeth. She waved them at the infuriated Amber with a self satisfying grin, her trophies displayed for all to see, and everyone knew how Zippy had gotten them in the first place.

Amber's response to that would have been censored from most TV shows.

After they'd put some distance between them and her, Zippy looked over at her friend, "I wonder if Amber became an asshole of her own free will or was she born that way?"

"I don't know the whole story," Lizzy said, "But she's been like that ever since her brother died five years ago."

That sobered Zippy up quickly, "What? I never heard about that?"

"I guess he found his father's gun as was playing with it," Lizzy explained, "Shot himself in the head right in front of Amber. She's been like that ever since."

Zippy took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a little bit guilty for taunting Amber like that. The guilt vanished as soon as Zippy remembered the kidnapping incident.

In Madame Petri's sports gymnasium, a game of grav ball was going on. As the players flew across the two sided floor, one above one below in the fluctuating gravity, other students had gathered to watch and to cheer them on. It wasn't a real game against another school, just a practice game for training, but girls lined up the cheer and wave as Petri's star player, Flash Driver, darted around in the air, skillfully avoiding the gravity pits as the ball flew from one player to the next.

In the stands, way back behind the swooning girls and enthusiastic boys, sat an unusual figure; watching the game with her hands folding rigidly in her lap: Lizzy Malaria.

Lizzy was no particular fan of grav ball, or any sort of sports enthusiast for that matter. No, she had begun attending the matches because of an interest of a different sort: And his name was Flash. She watched intently as Flash nimbly moved around the court, his lithe and toned body almost cheetah like in his swift sure movements. It seemed like he was born for this game. He was muscular without being huge (unlike the team's coach, Miss Anvil), and the sweat glistened off his chiseled form without looking gross or unappetizing.

Flash twisted under another player and caught the ball as it was kicked to him. With a quick drop of his legs, he shot down into the gravity pull on the bottom court and sent the ball with a lightening fast toss into the opposing goal. The goalie had almost no time to react. The ball flew in, scoring a point.

In the stands, the students cheered and stood. In her seat, Lizzy did nothing except watch him, a slight intrigued smile creeping across her face, and a slight blush appearing on her pale chalk like cheeks.

Elsewhere in the school, Cristobel Bell cautiously moved down an empty hallway. He looked back and forth to make sure no one was around to see what he was up too. Anger was driving him forward, hatred for those girls that had humiliated him so; girls that should have stayed at home in the kitchen where they belonged. He grimaced: Women trying to be scientists; what a joke. His father had always taught him that women belonged in two places: In the kitchen barefoot and pregnant, or in the bedroom naked and horny.

He was particularly mortified because by some fluke, that Zipperdale woman had soared past him in the scores. Impossible, that little incompetent floozy was not capable of besting him, and he was going be sure that everyone saw that.

He stopped next to the door he sought, looking at the wording on the front: "Death Ray Invention 101—Mr. Ecoli". Slipping a small lock pick out of his pocket, he quickly and skillfully jimmied the lock open. After once again looking around to make sure he wasn't being watched, he slipped into the classroom and closed the door behind him.

Inside the classroom were seven constructions all covered in thick plastic tarps: The death rays for the demonstrations later today. Cristobel moved among the projects, checking the tags on each one until he found what his was looking for: The tag that read Zippy Zipperdale and Lizzy Malaria.

He pulled up the tarp and pulled out small pocket tool out of his pocket. Be prepared, it was the Boy Scout motto, and Cristobel had made Eagle Scout, although his father's donations had probably helped with that a little bit. With sure, rapid movement, Cristobel unscrewed the housing of the device and pulled it off, revealing the inner workings of Zipperdale and Malaria's invention. He pulled a few more tools out of his pocket.

With a wicked grin, he got to work.

In front of her classroom, Miss Piranha taught and instructed with her customary bubbling over enthusiasm, the kind that made her easily Zippy's favorite teacher. As usual, she was dressed rather inappropriately for a school teacher: a black and white leather maid's outfit that hugged her voluptuous figure and displayed large amounts of her cleavage. It used to be a bit of an embarrassing sight to Zippy, but she had since gotten used to it like so much else at this school. In a way, Miss Piranha's uninhibited attitude was a breath of fresh air; since it was obvious she had not body image issues. Still, it was a bit of sore spot for Zippy, who knew her tiny cleavage would never fit in a dress like that.

The classroom was set up in a rectangular pattern, like most of the others it was lined with dark wood paneling of the old school variety. The students sat at large wide wooden desks that accommodated two at a time. At the front of the class was a raised section, almost like a stage that was fronted by a short wooden railing with a gap in the middle to pass in and out. One the raised section was Miss Piranha's desk, off to the side and tilted at an angle and all of her other teaching paraphernalia.

Zippy was also fond of this class because she had it with Lizzy, so the two of them could work on projects together. Zippy had quite few classes with Lizzy, and she wondered if putting roommates together in class was something done deliberately at this school, since she knew a lot of other girls who had a several classes with their dorm mates.

It seemed a little strange to look forward to a class called "Experimental Surgery and Body Part Transplantation", but she often did. And today's project was actually quite a bit of fun; giving chimpanzees poisonous fangs like cobras, although Zippy failed to see the usefulness of the procedure. As she and Lizzy worked, Miss Piranha walked around, exuberantly explaining the finer points of the operation.

Carefully sliding the poison sack into place behind the teeth, Zippy glanced up and noticed that another student had slipped in quietly and was doing his project in the back. She recognized him after a bit, having not seen him in a while.

She nudged Lizzy, "Hey, look: Jason Artmis is back."

Lizzy glanced back, "Yeah, you're right."

No one had seen or heard from Jason since he'd been "volunteered" for Madam Petri's experiments weeks ago. As Zippy looked at him, she noticed he was having trouble with his coordination. What had Madam Petri done to him, she wondered? Taking a closer look, she suddenly realized what was wrong, poor Jason now had tentacles instead of arms. No wonder he was having trouble, he had to learn how to hold things all over again. Zippy shuddered, she hoped she'd never let her grades fall and end up like that or worse. She decided to go talk to Jason later and cheer him up a bit, let him know he was still one of the class.

From where she was, Zippy could see that the tentacles seemed to be attached to his shoulders; he had none of his original arms left. They moved fairly fluidly, and she could see multiple suction cups along the bottom half of them. Jason looked miserable and frustrated as he tried to grip a scalpel in on of his long tentacles, finally managing to cut with some degree of accuracy. What sort of experiments had Madame Petri been doing on him?

As she worked, Zippy whispered to Lizzy, "Hey, Lizzy? Why do you think it is that nobody ever sees Madame Petri?"

"All I know is what everyone tells me, pretty much the same thing: She's doing some important experiments and leaving the daily operations to Mr. Innsmouth."

"But don't you think it's odd that no one sees her? At all? Ever?"

"Very odd. In fact, I bet if you went over there and asked Jason, he'd tell you that he never saw her. I've talked to several of her 'volunteers' and they all say the same thing: They never saw Madame Petri, just Mr. Innsmouth and a whole lot of Werx."

"That's very strange, so we don't even really know if she's still alive?"

"I've had that thought too. I think something's going on, something's being covered up, but I couldn't tell you what."

"Something's always going on here, but this is really starting to look suspicious."

"What do you propose we do about it?"

"Well . . . I wonder if . . .?"

They were interrupted by a gleeful squeal and the sudden feeling of leather clad arms gripping their shoulders. Miss Piranha looked over their sedated chimp with wide eyes and a great big grin. She hugged Zippy and Lizzy tightly, pressing their head against her large breasts, and causing both girls to blush. Zippy often wondered it she did that deliberately or not.

"Oh, that's fine work, girls, fine work indeed!" She jubilated, "Look at the close uniform stitching, that's the way to do it. Oh, I knew you two would do well together. I just knew it."

The two students muttered a 'thanks', still blushing. Miss Piranha hugged them again happily mashing their ears to her boobs, before moving to the next pair of victims for her affectionate enthusiasm. Zippy and Lizzy looked at each other, but still reserved a little, and then returned to their work, carefully putting the final stitches in place.

Just before the end of class, Miss Piranha made an announcement, standing up on the front excitedly as she talked a mile a minute the way she did, shuffling back and forth on her high stiletto heeled shoes which often made Zippy wonder how she didn't break and ankle every time she took a step.

"Alright, my little Frankensteins." She said gleefully, "Our next big project is going to be a very important assignment, but I think this bunch is up to it. Your next challenge is going to be a full body alteration. You can perform the surgery on anything, or anyone, and you can do whatever alterations you wish, but it has to render your subject considerably different then they were before.

"The alterations can be done in any operating room you choose, but I have to be present to view the procedure. Once complete, you will give a presentation and present you work to the class during normal class hours. Sound good?"

Zippy pursed her lips; that sounded ambitious. She had every confidence that she and Lizzy could pull something like that off, but probably not as much confidence as Miss Piranha was intrusting them with. Right away her mind began turning over possible ways to go about this project, and was relieved to hear how much time they had to do it in. They should be able to come up with something in that time.

The bell rang and they all got up, moving towards the door. As soon as everyone was out, Zippy hung back. Once the class was empty, Zippy approached Miss Piranha who was now seated at her desk.

"Miss Piranha?" Zippy asked her, "I had a question."

Miss Piranha looked up and smiled, "Of course, Zippy. My door is always open to you."

"What exactly is Madame Petri working on?"

"Oh, Zippy, I'm the last to know that. All I know is its taking up all of her time, so it must be something really big."

"When was the last time you actually saw her?"

"Well, I don't know. I've been so involved in the school. I did see her at the announcement of Mr. Innsmouth's promotion."

"How long ago was that?"

Miss Piranha sighed and furrowed her brow, "Five years ago."

"So you haven't seen her at all in five years?" Zippy raised an eyebrow.

Miss Piranha chuckled, "It's nice of you to be concerned, but I'm sure she's fine, Zippy."

Zippy left the class, her mind working overtime. This was damn peculiar, what was going on with the school's principle and her experiments? Zippy had a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was very wrong here, wrong even for this school.

Mr. Ecoli's classroom for Death Ray Invention was set up a bit like an auditorium, rectangular in shape but with desks on a high stadium rise going up towards the back facing the front of the class, where a wide space for lessons and demonstrations was set up. Due the often rather large size of the projects, the lesson area was large, stretching far back away from the seats, where inventions were stored until being brought forward to use.

The teacher himself was, much like the rest of them, not what you would generally expect from a science teacher: Mr. Ecoli had a completely clean shaven head and wore a thick black goatee on his chin; his deep set eyes making him look something like Ming the Merciless. He dressed up in old worn blue jeans and various sleeveless Harley Davidson T-Shirts that showed off his arms full of tattoos; that is when he wasn't wearing his long sleeved leather biker jacket. All in all, he looked more Hell's Angel then mad scientist, but he was one of the world's authority and death rays.

Zippy stood in front of the class, wrapping up her introduction to her and Lizzy's new particle dispensing death ray: The Lizip 4.5. The device was slightly cannon shaped, a wide cylindrical main frame closing to a smaller cylinder at the front out of which jutted the ray emitter made of polarized silicon. The housing was mounted between two flat struts that attached to a base set up with several gyros to allow the Lizip to move in any direction.

To the side of it sat a small wooden chair, cheaply made and disposable for their demonstration. On the chair sat a small shot glass. The plan was to demonstrate the ray's versatility, by disintegrating first the shot glass, leaving the chair untouched, and then do the chair itself, without harming the floor.

On her team ups with Lizzy, Zippy always gave the presentation as Lizzy's zombie like pattern of speech usually didn't get any of their peers too excited about the project. Zippy was wrapping up her introduction with her usual flourish.

"And so, we have a perfectly versatile death ray that can be adjusted to any amount of attack that you desire, and can take out a target with near surgical precision. I give you, the Lizip 4.5." Zippy announced.

She walked back to the ray where Lizzy stood and the two of them made their finally adjustments. Swiveling the ray around and pointing it at the shot glass, Lizzy took aim with the video screen on the back, adjusting the controls until the targeting lock selected only the shot glass and nothing else. The flashing back lit read out played across Lizzy's face giving her a sinister, almost maniacal look. Everyone had put on their dark safety goggles and braced for the demonstration. Lizzy pulled the fire button and a low hum came out of the machine.

They both knew something was wrong right off the bat; the ray was taking too long to fire. The humming grew louder and louder. Lizzy looked at the readouts and her eyes widened with fear, as red lights played across her face replacing the green ones.

"It's overloading! I can't stop it!" She cried in uncharacteristic panic.

They both worked the controls frantically as the rest of the class began backing up and taking shelter under their desks. Everything they tried failed, the ray continued to build up and build up. It vibrated in its housing as alarms began to flash across the screen. Every single worst case scenario warning seemed to be appearing in unison.

"Shut it down!" Zippy cried frantically, "Shut it down!"

"It won't respond!" Lizzy replied, frantically hitting the fail safe buttons, only to find that everything seemed to be unresponsive.

Cries of alarm were coming from the students. The ray was on a build up to a major detonation. The humming was now at a deafening peak, filling the room with its ominous whine. The ray rattled and vibrated, shaking on its struts in exactly a way that it shouldn't be doing. Zippy had only seconds to avert the disaster. She knew the classroom beneath them was empty at this time, so she did the only thing she could think of. She turned the ray around on its gyros and pointed directly at an empty part of the floor. With a finally screech of ear splitting sound, the Lizip's emitter glowed a bright light blue color and shot a wide cone of particles into the floor of the classroom.

Zippy and Lizzy both gritted their teeth as their carefully made project demolished part of the classroom.

In a second, the floor had been eaten through by the particle ray, which continued downward into the empty classroom below. It mowed through several desks, reducing them to nothing but floating dust in a split second and continued through the floor of that classroom as well.

The device sputtered and sparked and then there was a loud explosion in the housing and it shut down, filling the room with choking black smoke that belched out of the mainframe of the ray as its insides melted and died, but not before the ray had punched a hole completely through the floor of the classroom underneath.

This, unfortunately, led directly into one of the girl's shower room. Naked girls screamed in shock and ran for cover as the roof above them disappeared. They ran, sliding on the wet floors and grabbing whatever they could to cover themselves, a virtual smorgasbord of naked skin and blushing faces. Once they were sure they were safe, there were choruses of both embarrassed giggles and plenty of angry cursing.

Zippy looked over the edge of the hole (along with half the guys in class), timidly,

"Sorry." She apologized lamely.

From out of one of the lockers, Madoka came into view, naked and not bothering to hide herself.

"Little warning next time, Zip." Madoka called up at her before returning to her locker, unembarrassed as usual.

Rina would be mortified when she found out about that, Zippy thought, but probably not as mortified as she and Lizzy felt right now. She looked down with disheartening failure at the ten foot hole in the floor of the class. The doors burst open and Werx piled in, on their heads the flashing sirens of an emergency unit. Among them was Posey, who quickly ran to Mr. Ecoli for a report.

"Bork?" Posey asked.

"Just the hole, no casualties, unless you wanna count these two's grades." He said, glowering at Zippy and Lizzy.

"Blork." Posey said and went off to get to work.

Zippy felt that familiar feeling of defeat in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she hadn't had for weeks. Everything seemed to slow down and stop, and the world seemed dark and lonely as she contemplated her catastrophic failure. The Werxs scurried about repairing the hole, and the students clambered out, giving Zippy angry or bemused looks.

"Zippy, look at this." Lizzy said.

She had opened the housing of the ray and was looking inside. Zippy leaned over and took a look along with her, looking at the burned out guts of their creation. Squinting her eyes, she saw it right away.

"No way did we do that." Zippy said.

"No, we did not." Lizzy agreed.

Zippy's face hardened. Their class project had been sabotaged.

Late in the night, deep under the school, in the large aquarium wing, Zippy and Lizzy sat outside Megan's tank, contemplating the incident with their project. Zippy sat cross legged with her back against the glass, Jetson sitting happily in her lap, moving his tentacles contentedly while Zippy affectionately stroked his cone. Lizzy sat next to her, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her shins, resting her head lazily on her knees. The water from the tanks cast shimmering glows across the room, moving slowly with the soothing motion of liquid.

Inside the tank behind them, the giant sixty foot megalodon Megan floated behind the glass, listening sympathetically as the two girls talked about the disaster, her massive triangular head filling the window. Her mate, Morgan was somewhere down below swimming around.

The twins Katjia and Nadjia were also there, running around chasing each other playfully on all fours, yipping and barking happily at each other like the half wild girls they were.

Lizzy took a deep breath and spoke, "Okay, we know that we were sabotaged. Do we have any suspects?"

"Two people come to mind: Cristobel and Amber." Zippy replied, "It could have been either one of them."

Jetson piped up, "Amber was working on a project for Miss Gojira all day, it couldn't have been her."

"How did you know that?" Lizzy asked him.

"Zippy's enemy is my enemy," Jetson asserted, "I hear things and listen."

"'Know your enemy', huh?" Zippy smiled, "That's very helpful, thanks."

She gave Jetson a kiss on his cone, and his body shade reddened a little.

"So it was Bell, then." Lizzy said, "So what do we do? How do we get back at him?"

Megan spoke through the speakers above her tank, "You know, if you really want to hit him where it hurts, you should eat his young."

As usual, Megan's advice was worthless. Zippy shoved the horrific images she got in her head of herself and Lizzy engaging in cannibalistic infanticide, and analyzed the problem.

"Maybe revenge shouldn't be the first thing on our minds," She suggested, "With that failing grade, I think our primary concern should be keep ourselves out of Madame Petri's laboratory. Instead of worrying about the failure of this project, we should be thinking of the next one."

A shadow passed over the glass as the fifty foot form of Morgan swam past the window, stopping for a second to be cordial. The male shark had very little interest in girl talk, just like most human males, but still looked at the girls as his friends much the same way his mate did.

A low male voice flowed out of the speakers, "Why hello, ladies."

"Hi, Morgan." Zippy looked up.

"Good evening, Morgan." Jetson piped up from Zippy's lap.

Megan explained, "They were sabotaged by one of the other students."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. Perhaps you should bite off his flippers?" Morgan suggested.

"I already told them that, honey." Megan said to him, "This didn't like that idea much."

"Well, just remember," Moran said sagely, "It doesn't matter what happens, as long as you're still swimming when it's over."

And with that, he swam off back into the depths of the tank, leaving Megan to talk to the girls alone, like he always did.

"Am I crazy, or was that advice not half bad?" Zippy whispered to Lizzy so Megan wouldn't hear."

There was sharp yelp from down the hall, and Nadjia cried, "Ow! Katjia! You bit my butt!"

"Sorry; instinct." Katjia apologized.

Lizzy looked back at her roommate, "Okay, so, we focus on the next big project. That had better be Miss Piranha's complete body modification assignment. We've got plenty of time before it's due. So, what's the plan of action?"

Zippy rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "I think it's time for another trip to the library."

**Why hello to you all. My name is Rina Matsura, and it's very nice to meet you. In the next chapter, Zippy and Lizzy get to work on a most astonishing project while also getting some really satisfying revenge that will change everything considerably in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist**** "The Fourth Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've got it!**


	4. The 4th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Fourth Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

Zippy lay on her bed on her stomach, her legs up in the air behind her, various books spread out in front of her. She had fiery red hair that hung down strait and then curved at her shoulders, and wide blue eyes. She was dressed in her school uniform, a black shirt under a black long sleeved jacket with white trim, a short black skirt and black nylon stockings. She wore a large black bow in her hair, not part of the uniform but she liked it. Her skirt had ridden up, exposing her pink and white striped panties, but she didn't care because it was just her and Lizzy.

Moving her legs a bit, she adjusted herself on the bed. Lots of books lay strewn across the bed, several from the regular library, several of her 'special' books, and quite a few files on previous inventions by other students at the school. They were busy trying to put together a project for their 'Surgical Experimentation and Body Part Transplantation' class, which was taught by Zippy's favorite teacher, Miss Piranha. Miss Piranha was the most approachable teacher in the school, friendly and encouraging even if slightly ethically bankrupt like the rest of them. Her weird gothy fetish girl way of dressing was the sort of thing a teacher could only get away with in this school. Miss Piranha was very encouraging of Zippy's work, and she really wanted to please her.

Also, Zippy and Lizzy needed something to make up for the disaster they'd had with their last project: a particle dispersing death ray that was supposed to disintegrate a chair but wound up putting a ten foot hole in the floor of Mr. Ecoli's classroom. Zippy was sure it had been sabotaged, but they'd gotten an F on it anyways. Meaning they had to do something spectacular to keep their GPA up and themselves out of Madame Petri's laboratory.

Across from where Zippy lay, Lizzy Malaria sat on the edge of the bed, also dressed in the school uniform. She leaned to one side, looking over the books, her dress also riding up a bit and showing the black lace panties she always wore. Lizzy was for the most part, Zippy's own personal Wednesday Adams, and her best friend at the school. She was very pale skinned, having never really been in the sun for very long, and had long black flowing wavy hair, some of which she tied up high on either side of her head with long black silk ribbons. Her eyes were a dark brown color. He face was wide and pretty, giving her and eerie beauty that Zippy had come to enjoy. In conjunction with her appearance, Lizzy was playfully morbid and obsessed with the dark side of life, which meant that she fit right in with the school.

The dorm rooms were designed to accommodate four students, but since the student body was limited in size, they usually only held two.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the door banging open. They both looked up to see Cristobel Bell striding into their room like he owned the place. Zippy grimaced, Cristobel was one of her arch rivals and enemies, and a particular pain in the ass. He came from a very wealthy, long line of mad scientists and thought himself above everyone else, especially the girls. The problem was, he was actually quite brilliant, and aced all of his classes, showing up Zippy frequently, especially in Mr. DeSade's 'Genetic Manipulation' class where he had actually done a _Jurassic Park_ and cloned a velociraptor from 65 million year old dinosaur blood, although the thing had only lived for five minutes before vomiting some foul smelling crud and dropping dead on the floor. Somehow, Cristobel had managed to still get an A on that one.

The main reasons for Zippy's particular loathing of Cristobel were two things: one, Cristobel's family had an old world male view of life, and Cristobel hated and resented girls who did anything other then throw themselves at his feet. And two, one of Cristobel's aborted class projects had involved an attempt to kidnap both her and Lizzy and perform some kind of head transplant surgery between the two of them. They had escaped, foiling Cristobel's project, and Zippy was pretty sure it was him who had sabotaged their death ray.

Still, she had to admit, he was smart. He'd constructed a tissue reconstruction and regrowth device for Miss Piranha's class that was sure to become a revolutionary medical advance. This meant they had to be very careful not to be shown up by him this time.

Cristobel was small, even for his age. He had thick black, wavy hair that he always kept neatly combed, and wide stunning blue eyes. His face was round and his nose slightly elongated. His clothes were always neat and pressed.

As he strolled through the door, Zippy could see Kevin Crowsfeet behind him in the hall. He remained outside and didn't come in. Kevin was Cristobel's best friend and usual partner. He had black hair that he wore slightly wild and thick eyebrows. He seemed like a nice guy, Zippy didn't understand why he hung out with the likes of Bell.

Cristobel entered the room, a snide grin on his face, "Why hello, Ladies. Still trying to pretend you're scientists I see."

"What the hell do you want, Bell?" Zippy said angrily.

"Me? Why nothing of course, I just find it amusing to watch you little girls try to pretend that you could ever best a brilliant male scientist like me." He laughed irritatingly, "And when I rub you faces in my next project, you'll see boys make great scientists, and girls just make babies."

"Keep telling yourself that when we make top list this semester." Lizzy replied in her usual soft deep monotone.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh," Cristobel sneered, "What are you silly bitches gonna do? Blow up another part of the school? Give it up; you'll never beat my project."

"Oh?" Zippy asked levelly, "Is it gonna last long enough for us to see this time?"

Cristobel bristled, this was a sore spot with him, and the velociraptor had been a personal embarrassment, "Yeah? Laugh it up when Madame Petri is screwing around with your insides. This is real science, bimbos. And it's a man's domain that you to crybabies shouldn't be playing in."

With one hand Zippy flipped him a middle finger, "Go to hell, Bell. Least we never had our daddies fix a grade for us."

"Jealousy is unbecoming of a lady," He taunted her, "Anyways, you know what they say: Boys rule, Girls drool."

With a snotty laugh, Cristobel turned around and exited the room. Zippy stuck her tongue out at his back. She really hated that man.

Leveling her eyes at Cristobel's retreating back, Lizzy muttered a curse, "A pox upon thee, foul arrogant prick."

"Never mind him, let's concentrate on what we need to do." Zippy said, looking back to the books, "Any ideas?"

"How about a two headed transplant?" Lizzy suggested looking over a book titled The Basics of Unnecessary but Fun Surgery.

Zippy shook her head, "Naw, Tim Winderhien did one of those at the beginning of last semester, remember? I still have trouble talking to Kurt Marsters and knowing which head I'm supposed to look at."

They continued searching through the books, looking for a potential project. Two basic requirements: It had to be amazing, and they had to be able to do it themselves. Zippy turned pages, looking for inspiration.

"I suppose we could make a boy pregnant?" She suggested to Lizzy.

"I believe some regular doctors did that just recently." Lizzy sighed, "Besides, that would take too long, our project is due in a lot less then nine months."

Suddenly, Zippy's eyes lit up, looking at a page in a surgical book. The wheels in her head began to turn, and she began to tap the edge of the book like she always did whenever she got a good idea. Thought after thought connected, and suddenly, Zippy realized she was having the brilliant flood of inspiration she was looking for. A wide grin spread across her face as she looked over the books.

"How about this operation?" She suggested tapping the relevant page.

Lizzy leaned over and looked at what she was pointing too and then frowned, "That's a pretty standard operation. Regular doctors do that all the time."

Zippy waved a finger at her, "Yeah, but what if we make it better . . . way better . . . using this?"

She pushed one of her special books over to Lizzy and indicated the chapter. Lizzy lowered her head and read the title out loud.

"'Organ and Tissue Splicing for Transplantation and Tissue Alteration'" Lizzy read and began to read the instructions.

She was then handed another book by Zippy, and took a look at the title her friend had indicated, "Artificial Organ Construction and Cultivation from Biological Materials."

After a bit, she had finished, and pursed her lips in thought, "That's extraordinary. If we could do that surgery, using these techniques . . . we could revolutionize the whole procedure. Can we do it?"

"Yes," Zippy nodded confidently, "Especially if we also use this . . ."

She dropped one of the student files across the bed. Lizzy took it and looked it over, a surprised expression on her face.

"Cristobel's tissue regenerator and regrowth device? You really want to use that?" Lizzy asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes I do." Zippy said, "Give credit where credit is due: that device is quite brilliant, and it'll cut healing and recovery down to a fraction of what it would be otherwise. Lemme show you what I have in mind."

Hopping of the bed, Zippy grabbed a note pad off the desk and sat back down. She began to sketch out a rough diagram and set of instructions for what she had in mind. When she had finished, Lizzy stared at the diagram looking . . . well, as excited as Zippy had ever seen that girl get, which basically resembled a cougar. Sometimes, you really had to know Lizzy to understand her.

Lizzy took a deep breath, "We can do that. We can really do that."

"And it would be a guaranteed show stopper." Zippy added, grinning from ear to ear.

Raising an eyebrow at Zippy once more, Lizzy inquired, "Who in the world did you have in mind for a subject?"

Although the answer should have been plainly obvious, Zippy leaned over and whispered the name into Lizzy's ear. And then something unusual and rare happened: A sinister smile spread across Lizzy's face as her eyes lit up with excitement.

And so, one week later after Zippy and Lizzy had submitted their proposal to an excited and enthusiastic Miss Piranha and gotten the okay right off the bat. And after a long period of practice and study and after all the parts they needed had been procured, the two girls set their plan into motion.

Late one night, Cristobel Bell was walking back to the boy's dorm having been working late on a project. Or at least pretending to be: Despite what he'd told everyone, he didn't have a plan for his surgical project just yet. No ideas had come to him, but he was quite sure that when they did, they would be brilliant. He was, after all, the top student in the school, and a genius if he did say so himself. It was such a shame that not everyone could recognize that. Well, he'd prove it too them all eventually. One way or another they would all bow down to his superior intellect. He strolled down the halls, surrounded by the school's strange décor: a mix of old fashioned gothic architecture and modern metal construction, that always looked like a cross between the interior of Castle Dracula and the inside of the Nautilus from _20,000 Leagues Under The Sea_.

He turned a corner and frowned when he heard a soft moaning sound coming from up ahead. Moving forward he noticed a figure leaning against the wall: It was the Malaria girl, Elizabeth. As he got closer he could see that she was hunched over grabbing her leg, and was leaning on the wall her head tilted up and her eyes closed. He could see that she looked like she was in a lot of pain. She'd hurt herself somehow, that was obvious.

He smiled to himself: She had hurting something fierce. This was always fun, Cristobel didn't like to get himself distracted by something as trivial as a woman, but it was too much fun to mess with them when they needed the help of man. The helpless little sluts needed a strong man to satisfy them, take care of them, and show them who was boss. Despite what they said, Cristobel knew that a woman was only happy at the feet of a strong man.

He stood in front of Lizzy; he could see that her hand gripped her legs, her chest heaving and rising, her hand moving on the injured area, massaging it in desperation.

She opened her eyes and gasped, blushing, when she saw him.

"Please," She moaned, "I've got a cramp . . . please help me get to the nurses office. I need it."

"What makes you think I'd give you the satisfaction?" Cristobel shrugged and made like he was about to go away.

He detected, for a fraction of a second, an exasperated rolling of the eyes in Lizzy, "Please, don't leave me here. I'm hurt badly, I can't stand it. I'm in pain; please I need your help."

"Do you beg me for it?" He asked, "Do you beg your master for his help?"

There was a bit of a pause as Lizzy seemed to be waiting for something, and then, with an odd flash of anger, she lowered her head and winced.

"Yes, I beg you for it." She cried, "Look how swollen it is, I can't walk by myself."

"Then ask me for it, say 'I want you to help me, master'." He said snidely.

Again, she paused as if waiting for something before saying, "I want you to help me, Master."

Cristobel stared down at her clenched helpless form. Usually, the thought of having to touch Malaria would have given him shivers, but having her under his power like this was intoxicating. So intoxicating, that he didn't notice Zippy rushing him from behind with a stun gun until it was too late.

His body convulsed as the voltage hit him, Zippy pressing the business end against the bare skin on the back of his neck, causing a loud buzzing noise as she hit the trigger. Cristobel made a startled gurgling noise the fell forward into Lizzy's arms, unconscious, one leg still twitching. Lizzy held him up under his arms and Zippy quickly bent down grabbing his feet.

"Was it necessary to wait until after he had made me say those things?" Lizzy asked, heaving Cristobel's unconscious form over so he was facing up.

"Complain later," Zippy told her, "Let's hurry and get him to the dungeon. I've reserved O.R. 26, Miss Piranha and all our equipment and material are there already."

The two girls quickly carried their unconscious captive down the stairwell and over to the area where the sterile operating rooms were, nicknamed 'The Dungeon' by the students. As they entered number 26, they found Miss Piranha off to the side, waiting enthusiastically for them.

Miss Piranha was a tall, young woman in her late twenties. She was exceedingly beautiful with creamy, pale white skin, large red sensuous lips, wide brown eyes, deep black hair, large breasts, curvy voluptuous hips, and long slender legs. She kept her hair tied in high pig tails on both sides of her head. She was dressed in a tight, black leather dress that replicated the look of a nurse's outfit, complete with red crosses over each of her breasts. Her dress was short and form fitting, her top low cut and exposing her ample cleavage. She wore knee high, stiletto heeled black leather boots that clicked loudly on the floor. Just to complete the effect, she wore a black nurse's hat on her head with another red cross on it. She looked for all the world like a bondage fetish model, rather then a science teacher. She carried a pen and a notebook with her.

She beamed happily when she saw them, "Why, hello there, my little Frankensteins. How are you, are you ready to get started?"

"Hi, Miss Piranha." Zippy replied jovially, "We sure are."

"Everything you requested is in place." Miss Piranha informed them, "I can't wait to see you work on this. It's so exciting."

The two girls came in carrying the unconscious form of Cristobel between them.

Lizzy dryly remarked, "Thank you. Mr. Bell has gladly consented to be the subject."

Miss Piranha smiled slyly, "'Gladly', huh? I'm sure he did. Throw him up on the table and then start sterilizing yourselves."

The operating room was you standard OR, more or less like the kind you'd find in any regular hospital. The operating table lay in the center, and trays containing all the surgical instruments sat near it. On a table off to the side were several refrigerated containers labeled 'live organs'. Zippy and Lizzy tossed Cristobel on the table and after properly anesthetizing him; they went and sterilized their hands before putting on their scrubs and masks, which at Madame Petri's were a blood red color instead of green.

Properly prepared, they both returned to the table and quickly cut away all of Cristobel's clothes. That not unpleasant task done, Zippy picked up the scalpel, and after Lizzy swabbed and disinfected the area; she carefully made the first incision. They began to work, carefully, and diligently, performing the surgery with delicate precision, skillfully going through the process, the entire procedure having been carefully mapped out in a file before the operation. Under both Zippy and Lizzy's skilled hands, the procedure went off without a hitch, being completely done in just a little over six hours.

Thanks to the tissue regenerator, the patient was fully healed and recovered by the next day, and as such, was finally taken off the sedatives that had kept him unconscious.

As the drugs slowly wore off, Cristobel groggily regained consciousness, sluggishly trying to recall where he was and how he had gotten here. His brain was still in a fog as he struggled with his memory. He was at the school somewhere, but where? What had happened to him? He struggled to recall, his eyes still closed.

And then he remembered with a sickening feeling in his stomach; he'd been ambushed! The Zipperdale girl had taken him for one of her projects. Chills ran through him, what had they done to him? He became conscious that he was lying on what felt like an operating table. He tied to sit up, hearing Zippy's voice talking next to him some feet away.

"With a conventional version of the surgery, the organ is reshaped to as close an approximation of the new one as possible. It is not perfect, and does not quite function in the same way. With the advances in tissue splicing and merging, we can now blend the new organ with the reshaped original, thus giving the patient and completely and totally authentic one." Zippy's voice said, addressing someone.

He pushed himself up, his head swirling around him, and swung his legs over the side of the table. He felt all wrong, like his body was not his own. He tried to focus, to clear through the fog in his head. Surgery, they'd performed surgery on him. Horror swirled in his brain; they'd cut him and altered him somehow. But how? What had they done to him? He realized that he was wearing a hospital gown, but he didn't care. He was more concerned with what sort of surgery had been performed on him.

He heard Miss Piranha's high pitched squeaky voice, "Oh! Ladies, it looks like your patient is finally awake."

"W-what did you do . . . to me?" He muttered, and cringed as he didn't recognize the voice that came out.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was in Miss Piranha's classroom. He had been lying on a hospital bed that had been brought into the front of the classroom, which had a raised front area for demonstrations. A standing room only gaggle of students watched from the front, and he could see Zippy and Lizzy wearing lab coats over their school uniforms. Everyone stared at him with rapt attention, in a way that made his skin crawl; he shook his head trying to clear it. He heard a small squeaking sound and saw Miss Piranha pushing a large full length mirror on wheels over to him.

"Oh, it's amazing!" Miss Piranha exclaimed, addressing him, "It's simply incredible, you wouldn't believe it? I can scarcely believe it myself, and to think it was done by my very own students. Ah, I am so proud I'm getting goose bumps."

Miss Piranha placed the mirror in front of him, "You've just received the most advanced gender reassignment surgery ever!"

His jaw dropped open in shock as he looked at the pretty brunette girl reflected in the mirror: He wasn't a he anymore! He was a she!

Miss Piranha went on like it was the most normal thing imaginable, "You should know, the class took a vote, and we decided to change your name to 'Krystal'. Isn't that great, it's a lovely name?"

'Krystal' stared at herself in complete and total astonishment, not wanting to believe what her eyes were telling her. This couldn't be, they couldn't have done this to her. She jumped up off the bed and gaped at her reflection, a gnawing feeling of despair working its way in the pit of her stomach. She did not recognize herself at all in the polished glass.

Her black wavy hair was now long, going down well past her shoulders. Her face was rounder, her cheekbones higher and her nose small and unobtrusive. Her eyes were wider and more rounded, and her eyelashes were considerably longer. She was actually very pretty. Her body was thinner, and more feminine, with slender arms and legs and smaller shoulders then she'd had when she was a guy. She was curvy, that was for sure, with rounded hips and large sized breasts that felt heavy on her chest. Her skin was smoother and softer, completely and totally hairless all over that she could see and slightly lighter in color.

With complete trepidation, she dropped her eyes to her pubic area, turning away from the class and taking a fearful look. Carefully, she lifted her gown and gave herself a quick anatomy check. She let out a high pitched yelping squeak of shock: It was gone! His manhood was gone! She'd known what she was going to see, of course, but just looking at it for real was quite a shock. She whimpered miserably, looking at what now lay between her legs where her symbol of masculinity should have been. She clapped both hands over her mouth and to her shame felt tears welling up in her eyes. Damn, she was starting to cry . . . to cry like a girl.

But he'd been castrated! Those bitches had emasculated him, leaving him as she was now. Her brain grasped at straws to steady itself. Wait, a sex change wasn't really the same thing as being castrated, not really. Contrary to popular belief, very little of the penis is removed during gender reassignment surgery. She'd heard Zipperdale saying something to the effect of with splicing it with an actual vagina. So she hadn't really been castrated, that was something. Her mind continued to grasp at those straws as her legs felt weak.

She gasped a little as she felt arms come around her from behind. Miss Piranha had gone behind her and was hugging her from the rear.

"Welcome to the fold, sister." She squealed happily and then let go, leaving the girl now known as Krystal to flush from mortification and fury.

"What he hell did you do to me?" She wailed in anguish.

"Well, specifically," Zippy began, talking half to her and half to the class, "We've used the latest in tissue and gene splicing technology to graft new body parts onto the old ones and create a much more authentic female body then conventional transgender surgery was capable of."

"Also new is that we were able to graft actual undeveloped mammary glands in the breast muscles. We strove to find some good genetics so I guarantee you, those babies are at least a C cup."

"I appreciate that." The former Cristobel mumbled darkly, the sentence dripping with sarcasm.

"The rest of the cosmetic surgery was of the conventional type," Zippy continued, "Face and body restructuring done in the standard way, but the recovery time was negligible mainly because of our subject's invention of the tissue regenerator. Which, incidentally, we were able to slightly reconfigure to generate rapid hair re-growth, which is how we gave her such beautiful hair."

That surprised 'Krystal', "Wha . . . you used my tissue regenerator?"

"Yes." Zippy nodded, "And it works wonders. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and your tissue regenerator was quite brilliant. We also used a combination of electrolysis and chemical hair remover to permanently remove all the body hair, except on the head and eyebrows. Not only will she never have to shave her face, but she won't ever have to worry about her legs or pits.

"But what I'm most proud of is our internal work: Although she can't get pregnant, and rest assured, she won't start menstruating, we used the tissue splicing technology to give her a full compliment of female reproductive organs. Not only is there a vulva, but she also has a cervix, uterus, and two uterine tubes, the whole nine yards. Where the ovaries would be, we have inserted a pair of artificial organs that, while they don't produce any eggs, do produce all the estrogenic hormones that would have to be administered constantly by injection for the rest of the subject's life in a conventional transgender surgery. With these artificial organs we have constructed, our subject will continue to produce estrogen all on her own for the rest of her life, without ever having to receive it from an outside source."

"Can you turn me back?" Krystal angrily demanded, cutting off Zippy's speech.

"Excellent question, Miss Bell." Zippy said, in full teacher mode now, "Alas, no, we cannot change you back, the procedure is not perfect. Any attempt we made to reconstruct your reconstructed genitalia would most likely render you a eunuch, and we don't want to do that. So we're a long way from being able to change your gender when the mood takes you just by going to a salon."

Krystal jolted at the word 'eunuch'. No, she didn't want that. If it came down to it, she'd rather be a functioning female then an impotent male. Nausea welled up in her stomach along with anger; it looked like she was stuck like this; stuck in a girl's body, small, frail, not like her old one at all. She tried to calm herself, to think logically like she always did when there was a problem. Try to think of the positives, which usually helped. She stared at the mirror, looking at her reflection. The only positive that came to mind was that she was that she was actually very pretty. At least Zipperdale hadn't made her really ugly. Come to think of it, Zippy had actually made her prettier then herself. Some kind of apology maybe?

She gripped the edge of the table to steady herself, her mind swimming with panic. She didn't know what to do, how to cope with this. The class was applauding as Zippy brought her presentation to a close. Krystal looked out at the assembled students, she could see a few of Zipperdale's cronies out there in the mix. The two Ferrell Twins were up front, and she could see the Matsuma girl as well, though it was hard to tell which one she was at the moment. Quite a few of the students had camera phones and kept taking pictures of her.

Then she looked and saw something that made her gasp: Kevin Crowsfeet was standing in the front watching the presentation, grinning from ear to ear. Krystal blushed as she saw her best friend staring at her underdressed transfigured form. For some reason, she was more embarrassed to be seen by him then anyone else. She felt her face warm up as she turned red and quickly looked away from him. Her mind was conflicted and tormented, trying to latch on to her new identity. She felt tears welling up again, and tried to will herself not to cry in front of everyone.

There was a familiar clicking sound of stiletto heels as Miss Piranha went up in front of the class, "You'll all be happy to know, that I have given this project an A+, that will be shared by all participants, including Miss Bell, since not only was she the subject, but her invention of the Tissue Regenerator was used in the process."

The class applauded excitedly. Krystal thought, well, at least her grades wouldn't suffer. Small comfort that it was. She shifted uncomfortably as the feeling of panic got stronger, making her breathing deepen.

"Also, as is the policy for important developments at the school," Miss Piranha continued, "We have submitted a patent on the procedure in the name of all three students."

More applause from the class.

"Huh?" Krystal asked, perplexed, "All three?"

"Yes, Krystal." Miss Piranha put an arm around her naked shoulders, "Since it was your invention that helped the procedure, you share in the patent ownership."

Sweet, thought Krystal.

Miss Piranha talked to the class, "As always, I ask that everyone make Krystal feel welcome and included in her new form. She is a fellow student, and I expect to you all to accept her as such and help her adjust to her new life. Okay, everybody?"

There were sounds of assent from the class and few cheers and hollers.

The Matsura girl piped up, "I volunteer to take her shopping! We can buy her some sexy things."

That was definitely Madoka talking there, Krystal realized. The class cheered and whistled and a few made cat calls. Miss Piranha laughed jovially with them.

And then Kevin put up his hand, "I volunteer to be her first boyfriend."

He said it in a laughing, jokey way and the classroom and laughed happily at his comment, but Krystal blushed and felt her heart flutter a little bit, mostly out of embarrassment. That was her best friend out there offering to be her boyfriend, and she found the idea humiliating yet exciting at the same time.

Damn, et tu Kevin?

She stood up strait, preparing to tell everyone off, when her knees buckled a little bit. She was still unused to her new proportions. Krystal fell back against the bed, her chest rising and falling as fear and confusion ran rampant through her body.

Leaning on the bed, Krystal tried to get herself under control as Miss Piranha dismissed the class and they all filed out of the room talking excitedly about what they'd just seen.

Spying her motions, Zippy came over with a look of concern on her face, "Are you alright? You're not in any pain are you?"

The classroom was now empty except for Krystal, Zippy, Lizzy and Miss Piranha.

"I'm just pissed." Krystal hissed between clenched teeth, "What do you care? You did this to me."

Zippy ignored the comment, "You shouldn't be in any pain. Are you sure you're alright? You're face looks flushed and you eyes are dilated. It looks like you're sweating a little bit on the forehead, too. Maybe I should do another physical exam?"

"No." Krystal insisted, "

Lizzy looked down at her and then across at Zippy, "I believe that's a successful experiment?"

Zippy gave her an enthusiastic high five, and the two of them quickly got cleaned up. As they put their clothes on, Krystal remained on the table, staring at the tiles, her arms wrapped around herself, seeming to be in a state of mild shock as she digested what had just happened to her. Zippy and Lizzy finished gathering their stuff and headed out, Zippy blowing Krystal a kiss as she left.

"Bye, sweetie. You'll love being a girl." She cheered, "No need to thank us."

They left the classroom, leaving Krystal alone on the table, trembling, while Miss Piranha shoved some of her paperwork back into her desk. She then went over to a drawer and reached inside, pulling something out. With a quick motion, she turned around and walked over to Krystal, her stiletto heels clicking on the floor. She stopped next to her and knelt down.

Miss Piranha said, soothingly, "Miss Bell, as your teacher, you can come to me for whatever you need to help you make this adjustment. I'll always be here for you, and my door is always open for whatever you need, understand? I'm your friend, and since you're a girl now, your sister. I'm here to help you make this transition as easy as possible."

Krystal turned to her, her eyes now filled with tears that dripped down her cheeks, "I don't know what to do. I've always known exactly who I was and what I was meant to be. I don't know that any more. What am I supposed to do with myself now?"

"Well," Miss Piranha answered, "For starters, it's time to get dressed, young lady."

Miss Piranha held out a brand new girl's uniform for her.

"I have to wear that?" Krystal moaned, clapping a hand on her head

"Sure do, its school policy. Don't worry, you'll look great." Miss Piranha sang happily, "And these too."

She was holding up a pair of white panties. Krystal flushed red as she stared at them, "Ah, I can't wear those."

"Of course you can, young lady." Miss Piranha stated sternly, "It's not like you can go around wearing boy's underwear anymore."

Numb from the experience, Krystal took them and started to step into them, blushing red all over at the prospect.

"Woah, sweetie, you're putting those on backwards." Miss Piranha admonished.

"Oh," Krystal lamely remarked, feeling stupid as she turned them around and started pulling them up.

She felt her face go warm as she felt the smooth cotton slide over her body. Her face was red all over. She couldn't believe she was standing here wearing girl's underwear, and the fact that she actually was a girl now didn't make it any less embarrassing. Miss Piranha handed her the rest of the outfit.

Still in a bit of a daze, Krystal took it and began to clumsily put it one, having an immense amount of trouble zipping the skirt in the back, and finally Miss Piranha had to help her. She also found the long black nylons troublesome, almost falling over twice as she pulled them on. Was being a girl really this complicated? When she was eventually completely dressed, she was quickly ushered out of the class room and into the hall, with instructions to go see the school clerk for new paperwork.

Krystal walked down the hallways feeling miserable. Her life was over: Now she'd never be the scion of the Bell family fortune. Tears began to well up in her eyes again, but she fought them down. She'd heard Zipperdale; any attempt to turn her back to Cristobel would probably result in him becoming a eunuch. She shuddered. As a female, she could not inherit any of the family fortune, in the Bell family, only males could. But as a eunuch, hell, Cristobel would probably be disowned and abandoned. It was a hell of a situation: If she couldn't go back to being the way she was, she was better off the way she was now. At least she could marry some rich schmuck from another family and get her millions that way.

She imagined the words 'I now pronounce you man and wife' and pictured some guy leaning over to kiss her and shuddered in revulsion all over her body. Ugh . . . would it really come down to that?

She had to get back at Zipperdale somehow, but that would have to wait. She had to think logically. The first order of business was to learn how to live in this new body, much as she loathed the prospect. Well, at least she wouldn't be on the rag, but she knew nothing else about how to be a girl. She'd need some help and she'd need some insight.

And for the first time in her life, Krystal really just needed someone to talk to. She considered going back and asking Miss Piranha.

As she kept walking, she heard a familiar voice and she perked up: Amber! Amber would help her; Amber was always begging to help her, along with constantly professing her undying love and admiration. Hell, she and her friends always had followed her around before; hanging on Cristobel's every move like it was the most important thing in the world. When she was Cristobel, she'd loved the god like feeling that those girls' adulation brought to him. Yeah, Amber and her friends would do whatever Cristobel asked them too, they'd have to help out Krystal now.

She quickly ran around the corner and saw Amber, with her long blonde hair talking to her two best friends, Tiffany and Charity, who had duplicate hairstyles. Amber was complaining about being partnered with someone whose father only made six figures when Krystal approached her.

"Uh, Hi, Amber." She said, somewhat sheepishly.

The three turned around and when they saw Krystal, they all dissolved into cruel laughs, almost causing Krystal to wince. I wasn't the reception she had expected; she'd thought they'd show her some concern, and least offer to help.

"Oh, hello, 'Krystal'." Amber said, the word dripping with sarcasm as her friends giggled maliciously behind her.

With an even deeper pit of despair opening in her stomach, Krystal pressed on, "Listen, Amber, I need your help."

"Really," Amber said, her eyebrows raised with contempt, "And why am I gonna help you?"

"What are you talking about? You always help me. Didn't you say you loved me more then anything?"

"And you believed that? Listen, 'Krystal', you were an asshole. An arrogant, stuck up, irritating prick."

"Then why the hell'd you say those things to me?"

"Cause I wanted my cut of those billions you were going to inherit. Oh, come on, you really think I'd spend all that time with you and all your self important non-sense for any other reason? I figured I'd spend a few years working on you and then marry into money right out of high school."

"Isn't that reason enough to help me now?"

"Listen, loser, now that you've had your dick chopped off . . ."

"They didn't chop it off, bitch. The reshaped it."

"Whatever! Now that you're a girl, are you still gonna inherit all your money?"

The yawning pit beneath Krystal was getting bigger by the second. This was not happening the way she thought it would. She sure as hell couldn't ask for help on being feminine now, she'd have to try a different approach. She was quiet for a bit before responding.

She said, "No, but there's gotta be a way to turn me back."

Tiffany spoke up, "Hey, we were in there. It someone tries to turn you back, you turn into a flaccid little castrated wanker boy. Isn't that right?"

Krystal persisted, "But there's gotta be some way . . ."

Amber stepped forward, looking Krystal right in the eyes, "Listen, slut, I don't date girls, and I don't date paupers."

The trio all laughed spitefully and turned their back and Krystal, walking on their own, leaving Krystal deflated and shattered behind them. Quickly steeling herself, Krystal sought out more of her associations from before. One after one, they all gave her the same treatment. Without her money, they had no reason to put up with her.

Person after person that she talked to, all seemed to have hated her guts in secret, and now, with no promise of reward, they roundly rejected her. Krystal found herself wandering the halls alone, her confidence broken, and her world destroyed.

Krystal shuddered and leaned against the wall: It was all lies, all of it. She'd thought of those people as her willing servants no matter what. As a member of the Bell family, she'd taken their adulation for granted. It was over now, there was nothing left. She had no fortune to bribe people with, no title to put in front of her name. She was just a girl, to be married off to make the family ties stronger. There wasn't a single person from her former life that would help her out now. For the first time in her life, she was totally and completely all alone.

She slid down the wall, collapsing to the floor, the tears now flowing uncontrollably as she sobbed and shivered in misery, her knees pulled up to her chin, her face buried behind them, her arms folded on top. She cried, her body shaking in desolation and hopelessness, feeling lost, small and all alone.

She sat there on the floor, curled up like a shrimp, weeping despondently until a familiar voice got her attention.

"Cristobel . . . I mean, Krystal . . . is that you?"

Krystal looked up; her face wet from the tears, and saw Kevin Crowsfeet looking down at her with an expression of concern on her his face.

"Did you come to make fun of me too?" She asked, her voce breaking up through the sobs.

"No." He answered simply.

There was a bit of a pause, where neither of them said anything, and then Kevin sat down on the floor next to her.

He sighed and said, "I wish I had something really good to say, but I don't."

"Everything's so messed up." Krystal sobbed, "My whole life is over. Everyone I thought was my friend seems to think that I was just an obnoxious asshole."

"That's true." Kevin admitted.

"If that's true then why the hell are you being so nice to me?" She asked him incredulously.

Kevin shrugged, "Because I've been your best friend since kindergarten and I know that there's more to you then the snotty little brat you present to everybody."

She didn't have an answer for that, so she just kept silent. Again, they sat quietly next to each other, saying nothing.

Finally, Krystal muttered, "I don't know what to do."

Kevin seemed to choose his words carefully before answering, "Well, you know, this is the nature of our school. You wouldn't be the first person to have to deal with a radical physical change being forced on them."

"I guess your right."

"What you probably need to do, what everyone else who's been altered here has probably done, is look forward instead of looking back: Find how to make this new body work for you. Do you remember when you kidnapped Sharon Whitterson? You amputated both her feet and spliced on hands where they used to be?"

"Yeah, she was pretty pissed."

"But have you seen her lately?"

"No."

"She uses those extra hands all the time. Grabbing stuff when her hands are full, taking notes while studying in class and you should hear her play the piano."

"That's fascinating but I don't see what it has to do with me."

"Sharon took this radical unexpected change, and she owned it. She made the best she possibly could out of it. And being a girl is a lot less bizarre a change then having hands where your feet should be."

"I guess your right."

"So you need to stop worrying about old Cristobel, and start thinking about new Krystal."

She considered his words in silence for a while, before she finally spoke again. He was right, there was no going back. She could lie down and give up or she could get back up and fight. She bit her lip as she thought about it.

"I don't know how to be a girl." She said.

"I can't really help you there." Kevin replied, "Maybe you should ask Miss Piranha?"

"Yikes! Then I'd be coming to school in six inch stiletto heels and a ball gag in my mouth." Krystal exclaimed.

At that, they both exploded into uncontrollable laughter. They both giggled hysterically for a while before composing themselves. It was the best Krystal had felt since waking up in Miss Piranha's class.

"Well, you're going to need someone's help. You can't do this alone." Kevin said still chuckling.

Kevin was right, Krystal realized, she'd need some help in dealing with her new form. She'd have to find someone who would be willing to help her out, to teach her what she needed to know about being a girl. Someone who would consider it her responsibility to instruct her, maybe Miss Variola . . . ?

With a sudden sickening feeling, Krystal realized exactly who she should be going to for help. The prospect made her stomach churn, but it was the best option.

The thought was interrupted as Kevin put an arm around her. Krystal gasped at the close intimate contact. She turned and looked at her life long friend, slightly surprised.

Kevin said, "Listen, I'm still your friend. And that isn't going to change no matter what happens."

The bell for the next class rang. Kevin stood up and pulled Krystal to her feet, "So when you need me for something, don't hesitate to ask, I'll always be there for you."

"Thank you." Krystal smiled.

"And hey, look on the bright side: At least you're one of the prettiest girls in the school now." Kevin said smiling at her.

Krystal choked with shock and blushed all through her face, "Uh . . . thank you."

With a friendly wave, Kevin went off down the hall. Krystal stared after him with new appreciation. She thought of his face long after he was gone: Her only companion and the only one who would always be there for her. She clutched her hands to her chest, feeling butterflies in her stomach thinking about it, and a warm feeling of affection for her best friend in the whole world. She blushed through the cheeks as the strange thoughts assailed her.

Realizing what she was feeling, she clutched her hands to her chest and muttered, "Oh . . . god no."

She shoved it aside, and headed for the clerk's office, thinking instead on how to get the help she'd need.

And so, much later that night, back in their dorm room, Zippy and Lizzy sat on their beds, lounging around in their underwear, tossing around ideas for their next project, for Miss Variola's "Artificial Life Form Creation" class, which wasn't due for quite some time, but they hoped to have a plan early so they could get to work on it with plenty of time to spare. As they threw ideas around, there was a knock at the door. Zippy, got up to go answer it.

When she opened the door, she found Krystal standing outside, dressed neatly in her new uniform, the short dress revealing much of her legs. She looked at Zippy with a determined expression on her face. She held a large cardboard box in her arms.

"May I come in?" Krystal asked, "I want to talk to you in private."

After a moment of consideration, Zippy shrugged and let her come in. Krystal moved past Zippy and into the room, and then turned around as soon as the door was shut.

She spoke, "Zipperdale, you did this to me, so you've got to take responsibility for it."

Zippy eyed her suspiciously; after all, this did used to be Cristobel, "What do you mean?"

Krystal dropped the box on the floor, Zippy looked at it and could see that it was filled with make up of all sorts, various hair clips, fashion magazines and other girl oriented periodicals, and a host of other female specific items, which she seemed to have gathered up. Zippy raised an eyebrow at the collection and then looked back up at Krystal and was surprised to see a hopeful, pleading look on her face.

Rapidly, Krystal said, "Wontyoupleaseteachmehowtobeagirl."

"Huh?" Zippy asked not unreasonably.

Taking a deep breath, Krystal said, "Won't you please teach me how to be a girl?"

"What?" Zippy asked in complete surprise, "Why me?"

"Like I said, you did this to me." Krystal said levelly, "You should be the one to help me."

Zippy raised a suspicious eyebrow at her, "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything, I just don't know how to be a girl, and I need your help." Krystal protested.

Zippy didn't believe her, she was sure she was up to something. Since the procedure, she and Lizzy had been worrying about what sort of revenge Krystal might try to get. And it simply hadn't been like Cristobel to admit when he needed help. This idea was highly doubtful.

"You're out of you mind if you think I'm believing this." Zippy replied evenly, "Why in the world would you come to me with this? Why not go to one of those bimbos you always hung around with? Why come to me instead of to your friends?"

A strange, hurt expression came across Krystal's face, a look Zippy had never seen before on her. For a split second, Zippy thought Krystal was actually going to cry. Krystal made a few motions with her mouth like she was about to say something, and the cast her eyes down on the floor, looking humiliated and despondent. Without a word, she sank to the one of the nearby beds and sat down, clutching and unclutching her hands nervously.

Not meeting Zippy's gaze, Krystal said, "I don't have any friends, okay?"

"Color me stunned." Lizzy said evenly.

"Shush." Zippy admonished her, this looked serious.

Zippy crouched down in front of Krystal. Something was wrong here, this didn't look like acting. Zippy more or less could tell when someone was lying to her, genius I.Q. and all, and Krystal didn't seem to be.

"What do you mean?" Zippy asked her.

"I . . . all those people that hung around with me," Krystal explained, not meeting Zippy's gaze, "They only did it because of my money, and my ties to the Bell family fortune. They won't have anything to do with me now."

"Huh? Why not?" Zippy asked perplexed, "You're still an heir to the family?"

With a bit of anger, Krystal replied, "No, I'm not. In my family, only the male children inherit the money. Females can't inherit a cent; it's the way the family has worked for centuries. Now that I'm a girl, I have no claim to my inheritance whatsoever. I have nothing. As soon as my parents find out, I'll be cut off from all the capital."

Stunned to hear this, Zippy lamely remarked, "I didn't know that."

Zippy was beginning to feel a little guilty. This was a lot worse a result then she'd expected. She hadn't intended to completely ruin the guy's life, just change it completely. She'd hoped once he became a girl, she'd mellow out. This was all wrong. Maybe Krystal was right, maybe she should be doing something to fix this.

"Yeah, well, now you do." Krystal wiped away the beginnings of a tear, "I'll be lucky if they don't pull me out of Madame Petri's and put me in some charm school. Everything I had before is gone now, because of you."

"Hey, you tried to chop my head off, remember?" Zippy said defensively.

"Touché." Krystal muttered darkly, "I don't want to fight with you, because I need your help. I need to learn how to be a girl; my only hope now is that one day I'll be selected to marry someone from another powerful family to strengthen the position of the Bell family. It's all I've got left."

Zippy stood up immediately, barely believing her ears, "Did I just get into a time machine and travel back to the Middle Ages? What the hell is with this backwards male superiority crap? Jesus, Krystal, nobody thinks like that anymore."

"It's the Bell family traditions." Krystal insisted.

"Well, don't get mad at me, but screw the Bell family." Zippy announced, pulling Krystal to her feet with her hands on her shoulders and shaking her poignantly, "You don't need them, you're a scientific genius. You can make your way in the world without them."

"But I'm just a girl now." Krystal whined, "I don't think I can . . ."

"Pull yourself together! Of course you can. You don't need their money; those patents from the stuff you've helped invent in the school are all in your name. Your personal name, not the family's. Just the Tissue Regenerator and our Transgender Surgery alone will nab you enough royalties to see you through till graduation."

"Not to mention hand on foot transplants and smelly dinosaur corpses." Lizzy interjected with her usual dry humor.

"Shush." Zippy admonished her again.

Krystal was staring off at the wall, biting her lip as she thought about it. Her eyes began to light up as she tossed what Zippy was saying to her around in her head. So much had changed, and Zippy realized it was very hard for her to let go of all these antiquated preconceived notions of gender. After a very long time, her face began to lighten and relax.

"You . . . y-you're right, Zipperdale." Krystal said her voice shaky but gaining confidence, "I think, I can do this. Maybe I was wrong all this time . . . maybe I can still be a mad scientist."

"I know you can." Zippy told her firmly, "Don't let anyone else tell you what you have to be, you can make that choice for yourself. So you're a girl now, you still can make the most of your life."

"Yeah, Kevin told me something similar." Krystal said, "He's the only one who still talking to me. Still my best friend."

"Are you blushing?" Zippy asked leaning in to Krystal's face.

"N-no! Of course not." Krystal replied, hurriedly.

"Hmmm, is there some other reason you want to be more feminine?" Zippy looked at her with a wink.

Krystal's blush deepened, "Cut it out! Of course not!"

Zippy, grinned a little, looking at her. She didn't really believe her. Maybe something else happened to make her want to be so feminine. Maybe something a little special.

Krystal plopped back on the bed, rubbing her hands on her chin, "I'll still need your help, Zippy. I don't know how to function on my own; I've always depended on the family for everything. And I still don't know the first thing about being a girl."

Zippy realized it was the first time Krystal had ever called her by her first name. Maybe more was changing in Krystal then just her body.

"Well, to start with," Zippy said looking at her, "You need to remember when you're wearing a skirt. I totally see your panties right now."

Krystal had flopped own on the bed like a boy, sitting with her legs wide open, her skirt riding up and exposing the underwear Miss Piranha had given her. Her hands rested on her knees in a very un-feminine pose.

Krystal raised an eyebrow a Zippy, "Huh? But you're wearing nothing but underwear right now, both of you."

"Yeah, I know." Zippy said, "And its okay when we're alone, but when we're in public . . . well, it's just not feminine."

With a bit of a roll of her eyes, Krystal nodded and closed her legs, resting her hands on her knees. Lizzy looked at Krystal and then over at Zippy with a look of alarm.

"Wait . . . Zippy," Lizzy said, "You're not actually thinking of helping her, are you? I mean, for all you know, this could be some kind of trap to get revenge. We could wake up with our heads on the wrong bodies."

Zippy looked over Krystal, her eyebrows knitted as she considered her "I don't think so. Look at her, she's desperate. She really has lost everything. And it is our responsibility to help her adjust, you heard Miss Piranha."

With a smile and look of gratitude never before seen on her face in all her years, Krystal stood up again.

"And besides," Zippy added, "If we keep notes and monitor her progress as she adjusts to her new life as a girl, we can pass it off as . . ."

"A sociological experiment!" Lizzy finished for her, "You're right! Extra credit!"

A smile rose on Krystal's face. To Zippy's complete surprise, Krystal suddenly grabbed her and hugged her, squeezing her so tight she couldn't get a breath.

"Thank you!" She said.

"Ow!" Zippy cried, "Krystal! You're squeezing me too tight!"

Krystal let her go, and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. I've never given anyone a hug before."

"Seriously?" Zippy looked at her astonished.

Krystal shook her head, "It's considered weak in my family."

"Yikes." Was Zippy's only comment.

"So," Lizzy interjected, "How are we going to go about doing this project?"

Krystal fished a piece of paper out of one of her pockets, "Well, you'll have plenty of time. Since I'm a girl now, they gave me a new dorm assignment. As of now, I'm your new room mate."

"WHAT?!" Zippy and Lizzy both cried out at once.

'**Sup, bitches? Madoka's in da house! In the next chapter, Zippy tries to help Krystal adjust to being a girl, an, ya' know, not be such a bitch anymore. And she also starts looking for a new experiment to perform in the next chapter of ****Zipper Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist**** "The Fifth Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've got it!**


	5. The 5th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Fifth Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

First thing in the morning, Zippy realized that this was going to be a long day. A really long day in fact; she hadn't had much sleep that night, having been up all night dealing with an alternately despondent and demanding Krystal. Since Krystal had been Cristobel yesterday, and Zippy had given her the involuntary gender switch herself, Krystal was in a very real way, Zippy's own creation. And now it felt like her own monster had her by the throat. This morning had been tricky as Zippy and Lizzy had spent it giving Krystal a crash course on how to be female. Zippy was grateful in her own foresight in permanently removing all of Krystal's body hair, so at least she didn't have to deal with any shaving. She was also grateful that Lizzy, despite her earlier objections to helping our their rival, had agreed to help.

Trying to teach her how to do hair and make up was difficult, for a couple of reasons: Krystal didn't seem to get it, or was still unwilling to learn (which made sense since it would mean fully accepting herself as a girl) and fought it constantly, and the unsurprising fact that Krystal made for a slightly vein woman; she had to look absolutely the best and was constantly critical of what Zippy and Lizzy did. A few reminders that they were the only friends she had now who would do this for her calmed the normal combative student down.

Still, just getting her to remember that she was wearing a skirt was a battle in and of itself, as she kept sitting and walking like she was still a boy. Finally, after a bit of work and a lot of arguing, as well as an inventive trick of attaching high intensity magnets to the inside of Krystal's knees, they finally got things to an acceptable level of tomboyish femininity. At the very least, Krystal seemed to be getting the hang of keeping her knees together without the magnets. So, gathering up their bags, the three of them headed out to Madame Petri's enormous dining hall.

The dining hall was crowded and noisy as usual, with Werx moving to and fro keeping things in order and serving up the food. As soon as Zippy and Lizzy walked into the room with Krystal in tow, students began whispering and giggling, sending everything from bemused to hostile looks in the new girl's directions. To her credit, Krystal kept her head high, and made like she didn't hear them, but she looked absolutely terrified.

Zippy reached over and squeezed her hand, "Don't listen to them. They're just shocked at your change, that's all."

"They hate me." Krystal breathed through gritted teeth, "So many of them."

"We'll change that, don't worry." Lizzy assured her with usual unassuming monotone.

Truth be told, Zippy wasn't entirely so sure of that; getting the former Cristobel Bell to be accepted as one of their group was going to be a hard sell. Zippy would need to convince them that it was their responsibility to help her adjust to her new identity, and that Krystal had changed in more then just her body. Hard to tell if this was lying or not, but much of Cristobel's obnoxious personality seemed to be due to his family, and now that she was cut off from them . . . well, Krystal had a good chance to change for the better. The question was, would she take it?

There was a whirring sound and Vixen approached hem, balancing a serving tray on her hand. She stopped in front of them, her gears and gyros clicking as she halted, her mechanical eyes looking over them with glee.

"Jeepers!" Vixen exclaimed, "You look lovely, Miss Bell. You've turned into a beautiful young woman."

A bit of blushing flushed over Krystal's face as she muttered, "Umm . . . thanks."

Vixen nodded and then sped away on her wheels to do whatever it was she was doing, and Zippy ushered Krystal towards the table where they all sat. As she brought her over, she saw the usual crowd gathered: Katjia, Nadjia, Lorne, Buttercup, and Rina/Madoka (it looked like Madoka at the moment). Eve and Sharon seemed to be absent. Zippy approached them, trying her best to seem casual.

Everyone looked up with the usual friendly greetings, but they faded as soon as they saw Krystal. The hostility was minor, but unmistakable.

"What the hell's she doing here?" Madoka (it was definitely her) demanded.

Zippy took a big sigh, "Look, Krystal is our new roommate, and she'd going through a lot of adjustments. Miss Piranha said we should her out, and that's what we're trying to do. And we really could use all of your support with this. Alright?"

It wasn't all right: Madoka and Katjia both began shouting at Krystal, whose combative nature right away asserted itself again. A shouting match ensued with hurled insults flying back and forth over the table in colorful language. Nadjia growled at her and even leapt forward attempting to bite Krystal on the arm, held back only by Lorne's timely intervention. The scene had rapidly become ugly, and Zippy was at a loss to control the erupting chaos. She had expected an icy reaction, but this was way out of control, and Krystal was not making anything better, digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole she'd dug for herself.

Finally, a livid Krystal stormed off screaming, "Have it your way! I don't need you! I don't need anybody!"

Lorne held an infuriated Nadjia back, talking to her quietly and calming her down, eventually getting her to relax and sit back down. Zippy stared after Krystal, and then turned back to Lizzy.

"Look, I've gotta . . ." Zippy began.

Lizzy nodded, "Go, go after her. I'll take care of things here."

Zippy turned around and walked off after Krystal, not entirely sure where she'd run off to, but reasoning that she couldn't have gone far. Zippy bit her lip; she couldn't help the guilt she was feeling. True, Cristobel had attempted to do thing far worse to her, but she didn't like the idea that she had sunk that close to his level. She hadn't really intended on ruining Cristobel's entire life, just alter him enough to pay him back for everything and his misogyny. She hadn't expected Krystal to be disowned by her family and all her friends. Her loathing of Amber and the rest of the groupies had risen quite a bit after hearing how they'd treated Krystal when she was no longer a potential source or riches to them. At least now she had the chance to prove that she was the better woman then Amber.

She found Krystal in an empty hall, leaning sullenly against the wall and looking despondent. She didn't look up at first as Zippy approached her.

"Hey," Zippy said, "That could have gone better."

"I know," Krystal said irritably, "I know."

"Listen, if you want me to help you," Zippy told her, "You're going to have to help me. You can't go picking fights with the rest of the group like that. I know you didn't start it, that was Madoka's fault, but you sure fed the flames."

Bitterly, Krystal replied, "They hate me."

No point in denying that, so Zippy simply said, "It's up to you to change that."

"I don't think I know how."

"Listen, Kevin Crowsfeet is still your friend. He's stuck by for years and years, no matter what. And Kevin is a really great guy; he must have seen something in you that is worth his friendship. If he can see it, the other's can too."

"I . . . don't think I can make friends like you do all the time. I don't charm everyone I meet."

That comment surprised Zippy, in its way, it was round about compliment. She pursed her lips; maybe she _was_ making some headway here.

"Listen, Krystal." She said, "Do you really want to be all alone with no one looking out for you in this school?"

Krystal shook her head almost immediately.

"Then you need to make an effort," Zippy asserted, "Try not to pretend your better then everyone. Apologize, admit when you're wrong, and listen to other people for a change. And just try to act friendly; you'd be surprised how much a simple friendly greeting can change someone's attitude."

Zippy turned and walked away back to the dining hall, "You need friends, Krystal. And you can't simply buy them anymore; you have to make them yourself."

As she left, Krystal clasped her hands together. She still hated to admit it, but Zippy was. God, she was right about so many things.

At Madame Petri's the general idea of a P.E. class was Physical Augmentation with its teacher Miss Anvil. Structured like a general sports and fitness class, it differed in that the students were encouraged to devise scientific methods of augmenting their performances. Like quite a bit of Petri's curriculum, this struck Zippy as being highly dubious, but she went along with it like anything else. The current activity was one you weren't likely to see performed in any other school gym: A large maze of padded obstacles had been set up, and the students, armed with high tech stun guns, had to navigate the maze while taking down as many of the other students as they could. It was kind of like laser tag or that old photon thing, except when you shot the other players they were knocked unconscious as opposed to just loosing points.

The maze was set up to with various sorts of terrain; large tubes to crawl through, pillars all over the place, plenty a small rises with holes in them that you could shoot through, stairways and balconies and mirror traps with large mirrors on the upper portions making it difficult to hide.

Zippy crouched, her gun ready, hiding behind a small pillar. Her breath was deep from exertion, and sweat glistened off her body. She was dressed in Madame Petri's usual gym outfit: Tight black gym shorts like the kind Japanese school girls were notorious for wearing and a tight black tank top that made Zippy even more self conscious about her lack of mammary development then she usually was. The glistening on her skin wasn't just sweat; Zippy had covered herself in a gel that she'd chemically engineered to reduce air friction, allowing her to move faster and more accurately. It probably would have worked better without her gym clothes, but this was a co-ed class.

Behind her were three doors leading from other parts of the maze. There was a flight of steps to her left, and two her right further down was a series of rises in the floor that could be used for cover, but it was a mirror trap, the mirror being on the opposite side, turned down in a way that was sure to give away your position. In front of her was a long wall that led to two hallways on either side in which anyone could be lurking. And there, smack dab in the middle of the wall, was another door, one that would lead her to the final run.

Zippy looked at her watch, she didn't have a lot of time, class was almost over.

She had only a few feet to go before getting to the run that would take her to the goal. And the way seemed almost clear. She carefully crept out of her hiding place and began to sprint towards the opening. As soon as she moved, two other students rounded the bend behind her and spotted her. Zippy cursed, as they opened fire.

There was a split second whining sound and then a loud crackle as bolts of electricity streaked in her direction. Zippy knew to the listen for that whine and was moving before the bolts fired. She rapidly zig zagged avoiding the two bolts which crackled harmlessly into the padded floor as Zippy dove and slid across the padded ground on her side.

She returned fire instantly, striking one player dead on. The girl crumpled to the floor twitching, her eyes rolled back in her head. She missed the guy who ducked behind a pillar, popping out from the other end and sending fire in Zippy's direction. Zippy dodged doing cartwheels, a lot easier with the gel on her body.

She felt her hair prickle up as the bolts sneaked dangerously close to her. She threw herself forward, running the mirror trap area. Diving down and sliding on her belly like a reject from a John Woo movie, she took a chance and aimed her gun at the boy's reflection in the overhead mirror and fired. He gun crackled and the bold struck the mirror, ricoquetting off the polished surface and back down to the other player who hadn't gotten what Zippy was doing yet.

The bolt struck him square in the head and he went down with a small cry. As soon as Zippy thought she had a clear path, another player rushed out of one of the halls, wearing some kind of harness to make him faster. Zippy ducked for cover, cursing herself for getting caught in the mirror trap like this. She waited for shots, but then the other student veered out of control and slammed painfully into a pillar with a resounding smack.

He fell to the floor, out cold. Zippy darted into the final run as medical Werx dropped down to pick up the unconscious students. The Werx would take them to recover, or bring them to the school hospital where Madame Petri's resident medical expert, Dr. Rabecca Cavorkian would take a look at them. For all intents and purposes, Dr. Cavorkian was the school nurse. But in a place where getting good grades could be a dangerous undertaking, having a full medical doctor on staff was a good idea. Zippy plowed down the narrow final run, her heart pounding and her breath coming out in heaves. This was the trickiest part of the maze; with no where to hide, it was impossible for her to avoid a shot if someone else came down the run and saw her. She had to get to the end as fast as possible.

As she ran, she heard the padding of feet behind her. The run had a slight curve to it, so whoever had come in after might not have seen her yet. She took off faster, her feet pounding on the padded flooring. She saw the plate up ahead that she'd have to push to finish the match, but she could hear running feet behind her. If she could just keep the curve of the run between her and whoever that was at her back, she could make it. She only had a few seconds left before the start of the exercise; she had to make this run count.

When she was just a few feet from the plate, she threw down her gun and leapt forward as hard as she could, throwing herself to the plate. Even as her feet left the ground, she heard that distinctive wine. No way to duck now, the hall filled with flashing light and the crackling sound of a stun gun going off.

With only ten seconds to go, Zippy's hand touched the plate, causing it to light up blue. The panel it sat on swerved around, moving zippy into the opening behind it and out of the maze just as the bolt crackled on the other side of the wall. A few seconds later, the buzzer sounded and the game was over.

Sore and breathing heavy, Zippy made her way over to where the other students who had beaten the maze were standing. She was not surprised to find that Katjia and Nadjia, who she had this class with, had made it out before her. Wild girls that they were, the Farrell twins were naturally athletic. They'd been using these packs of a highly elastic rubber like gel tied to their hands and feet that allowed them to bounce to great heights in the maze. With the packs still on their feet, they were still bouncing up and down on the floor like they were on pogo sticks. It looked like they were having a good time.

Miss Anvil blew her whistle and the class gathered around her. She was a massive muscular woman, over six feet tall and pumped up like a Miss Olympia competitor, bulging all over with huge muscles that would have made Lou Ferrigno or The Govenator himself turn green with envy. To Zippy, hell to most everyone who saw her, it looked ugly and ridiculous, but then Zippy had always thought the male super body builders had looked ludicrous to begin with.

She had sandy blonde hair that she kept tied behind her head, a surprisingly feminine and pretty face boasting high cheek bones and sparklingly blue eyes. The rest of her looked like it was ready to burst; absurdly huge muscles decorated every inch of her, spider webbed with bulging veins that appeared to be ready to start rupturing any second now. The building of her muscles had reduced her breasts to the point where it was impossible to tell if she still had any. It was hard to imagine her being able to do something as simple as walking through a door, but Miss Anvil was swift and athletic, and deceptively flexible.

She spoke to her class in a surprisingly high pitched and pretty musical voice that served to make her body seem even more grotesque.

"Alright everyone." She said, her slight Austrian accent being something of an ironic joke, "Good work today, I'm very impressed with most of your performances today.

"I know that some of you don't see fitness as being important to science, but I can assure you that it is. Science is first and foremost a part of the realm of fitness. As the future researches of the next generation of unrestrained science, you have to be strong in body as well as in mind.

"It can be a very dangerous world out there, and you need to be in good shape to survive it. People will try to take away you accomplishments. They may seem like your friends, they may seem like a nice person. They may if tell you that they love you. They may even say that you're their one and only. And just when you're ready to open your heart and spend the rest of your life with him; he runs off to California with some blonde secretary that he met in bar!"

She stopped for a second and then said with a small sob, "Class dismissed."

The class split up as boys and girls headed off to their respective locker room. She walked into the room, filled with the echo of giggling and loud talking as usual. She got to her locker and quickly stripped off her sweat soaked clothes. Once suitably naked, she strolled into the shower room to get clean. She picked an empty spot and turned on the water, letting the trickling flow wash over, flooding away sweat and grime, as well as making her feel a little refreshed in the head.

The shower was alive with the sounds of water hitting the porcelain tiles, spraying around in rhythmic patters, mingling with the chitter chatter of naked girls conversing with each other under the steady stream of moisture. As Zippy washed away the day's exertions, two other girls came up and took the spots to her left.

They were Charlene Walker, a chubby and short girl who wore glasses, and her friend Tamera Hildebrandt, a tall and thin girl who always seemed to tower over her much shorter companion. As they washed up, they looked at Zippy and began to talk.

"Zippy," Charlene asked her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Zippy said.

"I hear you've been helping out Cristobel . . . I mean Krystal." Charlene said levelly, "Is that true?"

Zippy nodded, "Yeah."

"Why?" Charlene asked, "I mean, it is still Cristobel, right? Why are you even bothering?"

Zippy looked at her, "For one thing, I didn't realize that by changing his gender I'd be ruining his entire life. Krystal's been ostracized from her family, and its pretty much my fault. For another thing, I've spent the last twenty four hours with her, and I'm noticing more and more hints of decency in her. It's like there was some small part of Cristobel that wasn't a total asshole and it's now struggling to come out."

"Oh come on, you really think there's anything worthwhile in her?" Tamara added skeptically, "I think you're just wasting your time with her. Hell, she deserves what she got."

"Part of me thinks that's true," Zippy admitted, "But the more time I spend with her, the more I think there's more to her then the arrogant personae she's displayed before. It's not just that I feel sorry for her, though that is part of it."

"I dunno, I think that's all of it." Charlene said honestly.

There was splashing of the water as Katjia and Nadjia bounded into the shower in a lively manner. More at home being naked then they ever were in clothes, they chatted animatedly with each other and quickly ran over to the empty showers on Zippy's right. Nadjia turned to zippy as they entered.

"You know, I'm with Zippy." Nadjia said, "I think she's doing the right thing here."

That surprised Zippy, who turned around to look at her in astonishment, "Really? But you tried to bite Krystal this morning?"

"Yeah, I did." Nadjia said without a hind of embarrassment, "But after you left, Lizzy explained the whole situation to us. I've gotta admit I'm feeling a little sorry for her too."

"Yeah, and you've all read Frankenstein, right?" Katjia interjected, "Not a good idea to create a monster and then just abandon it."

"Oh that's pushing it." Tamara chuckled, "It's not like she has bolts in her neck."

"I could arrange that." Charlene giggled.

"Anyways, didn't Cristobel try to cut off your head and switch it with Lizzy's?" Charlene said, "I don't see how you can think there's any evidence that there's anything worthwhile in her?"

"I do see some evidence." Katjia spoke up, "Kevin Crowsfeet. He's been Cristobel's friend for like forever. If you wanna know what's worthwhile about her, you should probably ask him."

"You're probably right. I had the same thought myself." Zippy shut off the water, "Listen, guys, I appreciate the concern, but I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm sure there's a real human being in there somewhere."

Zippy headed out of the shower to find Posey standing there handing out towels, her gears and gyros whirring as she moved.

"Thank you, Posey." Zippy said as she took a towel.

"Blork." Said Posey.

And then, everyone ran for cover when the Twins dropped down on all fours and dried themselves off by shaking their bodies, spraying droplets of water in every direction.

Deep under the school, far down in the aquatic area, poor lovesick Jetson the Humboldt squid sat at the edge of the huge window that looked into Megan's massive tank. He moved his tentacles lazily as the huge sixty foot megalodon floated just beyond the glass, her colossal triangular head taking up much of the window. Jetson had been brought here many times by the girls, and he'd noticed they sometimes felt better after they talked with Megan about something. Or so he thought, humans were hard to understand. In any event, he had decided to give it a try.

"I know we're different, but I can't help it." He continued, "I think I'm in love with her. I don't know what to do, I help her out, and I give her things, but she still thinks of me as her pet." Jetson moaned sullenly, his skin turning a dark blue shade, "What should I do?"

Megan floated quietly, thinking about it before the implant on her head flashed as she spoke, her high feminine voice, completely at odds with her mouth full of steak knife sized razor sharp serrated teeth, coming out of the speakers around the window.

"I don't pretend to understand human mating, and their whole courtship thing. We sharks keep it simple: When you're in heat, you mate." Megan said thoughtfully, "But I have noticed that when human males like a female, they tend to give them compliments about their appearance."

Jetson brightened up, his skin turning a light pink shade, "Yes, I have noticed that myself. But what would I say?"

Again, Megan thought about it, moving her fins languidly as she floated, her gills opening and closing as she filtered the water through her body.

"Perhaps you should tell her how thin she looks?" Megan suggested, "I have observed that human females appreciate it when you notice their lack of blubber."

Jetson turned a deep orange color, "Yes, I have noticed that too. I'll try that. Thank you, Megan."

Excited by his new information, the mutated land squid scurried off down the hallway to find Zippy, his tentacles moving rapidly and propelling him along.

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late for an important date!" He sang happily.

Floating in the zero G section of the Grav Ball court, Gerald "Flash" Driver maneuvered skillfully around the other players, keeping an eye on the ball as it flew around the court. Off to his side, he could see the line of girls excitedly cheering him on. He would have been lying if he said he didn't enjoy all the adoration he received as Madame Petri's star player. Girls threw themselves at him, guys hung on his every word and they all battled for the privilege of hanging out with him. In most ways, he was living the dream.

But for the most part, Flash both loved and hated his status as Petri's celebrity athlete. Flash was damned if he was going to be just another brainless jock riding a sports scholarship to some big sports stadium with a college attached to it, he had applied to this school specifically for its academic and scientific programs. Grav ball was fun, but it wasn't the kind of thing you could make a good career out of. There was an international professional league, but since it was part of the hidden unrestrained science world, it wasn't very big. And sometimes Flash felt like the game got in the way of his real passion: Molecular biology.

What particularly disturbed him was the nagging suspicion that his grades were being fixed so that he could continue to play. He didn't really have any evidence of this other then the fact that several of his projects had received higher marks then he'd thought they would. The thought irked him, how would he ever know how well he was doing if everyone made excuses 'cause he was good at grav ball. How in the world could he do anything worth while on his own if people simply cleared a path for him? If he never failed at anything, how was he supposed to learn?

He shifted his thoughts to the game as the ball headed his way. He had no opening shot from where he was, so he dived upward, using the top gravity to shoot up above the other players, pitching the ball to Caleb Murphy. With some spectacularly skillful moves of his own, Murphy shot the ball into the goal. Applause roused from the bleachers.

When the match finally ended with two point lead, Flash dropped to the ground as normal gravity was restored. He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his brow as he headed for the locker room. A few guys patted him on the back in congratulations, and some to the girls ran up to squeal in glee at him excitedly. He reminded himself to stay cordial, talking and joking with them good naturedly. As he continued towards the showers, he noticed something, or someone, he hadn't before.

A strange looking girl sat in the very back of the bleachers, stark black wavy hair sitting completely at odds with her pale white skin. Instead of the giggling and cheering that all the other girls were doing, she simply stared with a passive expression her eyes fixed on something. After a second, Flash realized she was staring at him. He knew her from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place the face.

When the mysterious girl realized he was looking at her, she quickly looked down and gathered up her stuff, disappearing into the crowd as enigmatically as she had arrived.

Entering the locker room, Flash stripped off his uniform and other accessories quickly getting naked and heading to wash off the day's hard work. He stepped into the showers and found an empty spot next to Caleb who was busy washing himself off. The water splashed on the floor, mingling with the sounds of guy talk; consisting in usual athlete fashion of two topics: sports and girls. Both were a lot of fun, but sometimes Flash wondered if they could talk about anything else, just for a little bit.

As he let the water fall over his body, he said, "Good game today, Murphy."

"Thanks, you too." Caleb replied, soaping himself up and getting a good lather.

"Listen, Murphy," Flash began, "Who was that black haired girl in the bleachers today?"

"Really black hair? Pale skin?" Caleb asked, "Very intense looking eyes?"

Flash nodded, "That's the one. I've seen her before, I think her name is Lissa, or Lizzy or something like that."

Caleb nodded, washing away the soapy suds, "That's Lizzy Malaria. You've seen her around; she usually hangs out with Zippy Zipperdale."

"That's right, yeah, I have seen her." Flash snapped his fingers.

He knew who Zipperdale was; of course, she'd been the hot news all over the school ever since she got here. And her feud with Cristobel Bell had been the source of all sorts of campus gossip, though no one would have predicted that it would have ended the way it did: With that arrogant misogynistic jackass being turned into the very thing he hated. Zipperdale's rather ironic revenge had almost had Flash cheering for her. Lizzy Malaria was her best friend, so that's where Flash knew her from.

"Has she come to the games before?" Flash asked him, rubbing the soap on his body and removing the sweat and grime.

"She's been showing up a lot lately." Caleb said, "But I haven't seen her here before that."

Mostly to himself, Flash muttered, "Interesting."

The hallway that Krystal was walking down was packed end to end with other students, moving one way or another in a steady stream of movement that resembled some white water rapids. She had to twist and turn her newly altered body to get past the swell of bodies that didn't seem to bother to get out of her way.

Surrounded by people on all sides, Krystal still felt completely and disproportionately alone. She felt down and despondent: She had no family, and barely any friends, one of which used to be her worst enemy. The students around her shot bemused and malicious glances at her, whispering amongst themselves. Plenty of them stared. Not that Krystal could really blame them; she been a guy only twenty four hours before. She'd have been interested in herself too.

She hadn't had the guts to try to call her parents yet, although she knew the school already had. She dreaded seeing her father again more then anything. What would he say when he saw that his only son, the heir to his empire, was nothing but a woman now, a pretty girl with wavy hair and a curvy figure. God, he'd be so mad; and so disappointed that his son would never live up to his expectations of being a man. It was the thing the Krystal had feared her whole male life: Disappointing her father, not living up to his standards, failing in the responsibilities entrusted in her by her family. And now, it looked like all those fears would be realized. She shuddered at the thought.

Strangely, she wasn't sure how her mother would react. She damn well knew how Celestine, her sister would react: Pure derision. For all their lives, Celestine had done as expected and deferred to her younger brother as the male child. With a younger sister, Celestine would now be in the upper position, and damned if she wouldn't make the most of that every chance that she got. Krystal realized she may never go home again.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Zippy had been right; she could probably make it on her own without her family. Intellectually, she knew that was true, but emotionally she was still a wreck. And she knew she needed friends, Zippy had been right about that too, she had to make alliances, and she couldn't do it the same way she had before. She had to make actual friends, not paid for underlings.

She shuddered as she realized she'd never had any real friends before; her whole life had been a lie, a fabrication paid for by the Bell family fortune. It was all she could do not to cry. She turned down another hall, her head down, biting her lips in misery. It was then that she heard a familiar voice that made her heart beat faster and her blood pump through her veins: Kevin!

A bit of hope flooded through her: Kevin would always be there for her. She heard it coming from around the corner up ahead, and quickly ran towards the sound. Just before she got to the end, however, she stopped dead as she heard another voice: Zippy's. Not sure why she was doing it, she hid around the corner, flattening against the wall and listened to them. They were talking, it seemed, about her.

"So that's what happened." Zippy was saying, "They all just turned on the drama and Krystal stormed off. And now everyone thinks I'm crazy, or that I'm wasting my time. What do you think? You've known Cristobel for longer then anyone, is there anything really worth saving in Krystal? Does she really have any redeemable qualities?"

Kevin nodded, "I can understand why you'd think there wouldn't be, but this arrogant, elitist megalomaniacal personae she's been projecting her whole life is really just a front. She's behaving the way her father expects her to; the way her father acts. Deep down, she's a lot different, but hardly anyone ever sees that."

"I've had that feeling myself." Zippy said, "Over the last day I've glimpsed things a lot . . . nobler then what I would have expected. It's like the person she should be is now struggling to come out."

"I hope so." Kevin replied, "She'd kill me if she heard me say this, but I think being out of favor with her family might have been the best thing that ever happened to her. With you taking her under your wing, I hoping she'll learn to open up, maybe really start being her own person."

"That's what I've been thinking; I was so sure that this was the right thing to do, but with everything that's happened and everything that's been said . . . well . . . It's got me questioning myself."

"Listen, lemme tell you a story about something that happened when Cristobel was seven. His father keeps a lot of hunting dogs as pets . . ."

Krystal almost gasped as she realized what story Kevin was going to tell Zippy. _No!_ The thought hurriedly, _No, don't tell her that story! Please don't!_

But Kevin continued, "One day, one of them was injured in a fall, broke its front legs. Cristobel knew that his father would just shoot the dog right away, so he stole it and hid it in the wood behind the Bell mansion. For months he secretly tended to that dog; putting casts on its legs, bringing food to it, sneaking out whenever he could to play with it and keep it company. Over a long period of time, he carefully and lovingly nursed that animal back to health. The compassion in him was so strong, you wouldn't believe it. I'm the only one he shared that secret with. And in those times that he spent with that dog, I think I really saw his true nature."

"Wow," Zippy said quietly, "I had no idea. Did the dog recover?"

Solemnly, Kevin nodded, "It recovered fine, but Mr. Bell shot anyways, right in front of Cristobel; apparently to teach him a lesson in obedience."

"Jesus." Zippy grimaced, "I had no idea."

Kevin was silent for a second before he said, "You don't have to be physically abused to be emotionally battered. There's a reason Cristobel was the way he was. But now Krystal has a chance to be something more, something better then the sum of her father's derision."

"Damn, maybe I've been too hard on her; I'm beginning to understand her a little bit more."

He put a hand on Zippy's shoulder, "Trust me, you _are_ doing the right thing."

Krystal couldn't help herself anymore; tears were streaming down her cheeks as the bad memories flooded. She looked around, at least no one could see her. She wiped them away, realizing she was probably smearing the make up she had worked so hard to learn how to put on this morning. She wasn't just sad, but oddly moved that the two of them had so much faith in her. And yet, she'd behaved like a barbarian when they gave her this chance. Guilt flooded her at letting them down like that. She was confused as emotions she didn't quite grasp made themselves known. Damnit, what was happening to her?

"I guess you're right . . ." Zippy began, but was interrupted by Jetson scurrying up to her.

He held one of her books in between two of his tentacles, holding it tight with the suction cups. Zippy realized it was her Doomsday Theory book, and she had forgotten it.

"Zippy!" Jetson called, "You forgot this!"

Zippy reached down and took the book from her pet, smiling broadly, "Thank you, Jetson. You're a good squid."

Looking up at her, Jetson felt nervous. He didn't know what to say at first, and then he remembered Megan's advice from before: Just compliment her on her appearance; tell her how thin she looks.

"Zippy, you seem malnourished." Jetson told her, "Are you suffering from internal parasites?"

Furrowing her brown, Zippy stared blankly at Jetson for a few seconds and then smiled, "No, but you're sweet to be concerned."

She leaned down and kissed Jetson's cone, causing him to turn a deep red color. She walked off, heading for her next class and Jeston followed her, moving quickly on his tentacles as he did so, his three hearts beating fast in his red cone. Megan had been right; it had worked like a charm.

He would have to take Megan's advice more often.

When dinner time rolled around, Zippy found herself back in the dining hall with all the usual crew, including Eve this time who had woken a little early. They sat and chatted amiably as they waited for their food, discussing their classes and their projects as usual. As they chatted back and forth, they were all suddenly surprised as Krystal approached the table, her hands clutching nervously.

Giving a small bow Krystal took a deep breath and said, "I apologize for my behavior this morning. It was uncalled for, and I hope you'll forgive me."

There was a stunned silence from the table, as if someone had mentioned E.F. Hutton. Krystal looked nervously at the surprised faces, not sure if she should stay or turn and run. She noticed a slight smile on Zippy's face, and decided to tough it out. She remained where she was, waiting someone to say something. It felt agonizing; she wished one of them would speak, if just to say 'get lost'.

Finally, Nadjia spoke up, "I'm . . . um . . . I'm sorry I tried to bite you."

The surprised expressions remained, but all the head rotated in an almost comical manner to stare at Nadjia, who had been most vocal in her objections to Krystal that morning. Krystal felt a little moistness in her eyes as relief flooded her. She could do this.

"Thank you." She said.

Zippy gestured for her to sit down and Krystal timidly took her seat. Werx came around dropping dinner in front of them, chicken parmesan today. After an uncomfortable silence, they began to talk as Rina described her new project.

"It's for Mr. Carcharias' class," Rina was saying, "I'm taking coy and altering them with bio luminescence, which they can turn on and off if needed."

Krystal was not in the habit of admitting when someone else's project intrigued her, so she kept her mouth shut.

Eve said, "Wow, that should make for a spectacular coy pond."

The project was an interesting one, and it was an idea Krystal had once had herself, but she could never get to work. She wanted to ask how Rina had done in, but she kept her silence, hoping somebody else would.

All at once, she realized that she was being stupid. She shoved her inhibition aside and spoke up.

"Really?" She said, "I tried a project like that a while ago with bass, but I could never get it to work. Were you using Angler Fish DNA?"

Being that it was the first time Krystal had ever expressed an interest in someone else's work, everyone turned to look at her in surprise, not the least was Rina who paused for a second in astonishment before responding.

"Um, no, actually, I used _Watasenia scintillans._" She commented.

"The firefly squid?" Krystal asked, "I never thought of that, what made the difference."

Relaxing a little, Rina began to talk, explaining how she'd done the alterations and what she had used. Quickly, Krystal began to understand what she had done wrong and why Rina's version worked when her's didn't. There were a lot of ideas that Krystal wouldn't have thought of. Krystal was interested, and her impulse to pretend she wasn't returned with a vengeance. Again she found herself shoving it aside. What was it that Zippy had a bazillion times last night? 'Give credit where credit is due'?

"That's ingenuous." Krystal commented.

Rina blushed and looked down at her plate, smiling, "Thank you."

Once again, everyone at the table was staring at Krystal in surprise. As the conversation continued, Krystal began to relax and start talking more. She found herself enjoying this simple chit chat. It then occurred to her that this was the first real conversation that Krystal had ever had at the school with someone other then Kevin. Always before, it had always been Cristobel talking, and the groupies hanging off his every word. Now, as Krystal, she was having a normal give and take conversation, friendly talking amongst fellow students, and she was surprised how enjoyable the process was.

She began to realize that she just might be able to enjoy her new life as Krystal.

As the weeks progressed, Zippy watched with a sense of satisfaction as Krystal more and more mellowed out on a day to day basis. She became friendlier, more interested in other people besides herself and more and more tolerable both as a roommate and as a person. The decent person that Kevin had insisted was hidden in there could be glimpsed more and more, and in many ways Zippy found herself getting closer to her new roomie. In fact, she Krystal and Lizzy had begun trying to collaborate on ideas for Miss Variola's Artificial Life Form Project, but with no good results so far.

Not only was she getting friendlier, Zippy noticed, but she was also getting girlier as the weeks went by. Perhaps it was the artificial organs pumping her full of estrogenic hormones, but Zippy thought that Krystal was really starting to accept herself as female. It could be that Cristobel might have had a secret desire like this: When Krystal talked about her family, she had a certain amount of affection in her tales of her mother and older sister, but her references to her father were always of a detached respect and admiration, always of a slightly cold nature. From what Zippy knew of Artemis Bell it didn't really surprise her.

Krystal's descriptions of her mother, Constance Machiavelli Bell, and her older sister Celestine, contained hints of real affection, although it still seemed like the whole family was kind of uptight and ridged; no big surprise there.

Eventually, Krystal became one of them, so much so, that Zippy and Lizzy felt safe showing her the hidden library, to her giddy and astonished amazement.

Although the Cristobel problem was officially solved, Zippy found a whole new can of worms opening up right away. Zippy had assumed that with no Cristobel to compete over, the groupies would have broken up. But she soon found that wasn't the case. Amber Tiffendorf quickly took control of the group, changing it from a Cristobel worship clan to an Amber obedience clan. Charity and Tiffany became her two top flunkies along with another of the groupies named Porsche who was 'promoted' from the lower ranks. The hieratical organization of Amber's new mob was really something to see. It didn't take long to find out that as the leader, she was just as obnoxious as Cristobel had been, and hated Zippy and her friends, Krystal now included, with the same passion as before. Around the school, people took to calling them Amber's Army. She swiftly became a royal pain in the ass.

Particularly galling was Amber's tendency to send her flunkies to steal project ideas from Zippy. After being 'scooped' on three strait projects by Amber, Zippy and the rest began carefully protecting their projects and idea, meeting in secret places around the school. Unofficially, they had begun calling themselves The Shark Tank Guild, because they frequently hung out at Megan's tank. Zippy began coming up with such elaborate security measures that she sometimes wondered if she would be scouted by the CIA.

As the war heated up between them, Zippy realized that Amber was going to be a much bigger problem then Cristobel ever was. After narrowly thwarting a few kidnapping attempts, Zippy began to understand how the world had felt after World War II, when they got rid of Hitler, only to have to deal with Stalin.

One person did benefit from the change in power: With Charity no longer competing for Cristobel, Rick quickly seized the moment and made his move. Very quickly they were seen together frequently, and soon they were a bona fide couple, and one of the talks of the campus. Good for Rick and Charity, bad for Amber's boyfriend Adam, who now not only found himself shoved aside by his girlfriend's ego instead of another man, but was deprived of his former companion in loneliness. Without Rick to vent his misery to, Adam began to look more bitter and despondent then he ever had before, and Amber could seem to care less. Despite that, Adam continued to live under Amber's thumb as he always had, hopelessly, and stupidly, still in love with her. It made Zippy quite sad just to look at him.

Then again, Zippy's own love life wasn't going so well anyways: She made numerous attempts to get her relationship with Kyle to something more then just casual, but her timing seemed to be off, and she could never quite get him at a good moment. At the very least, she now could manage to hold a good minutes worth of chat with him before starting to dissolve into idiotic giggles like before. Still, he always seemed friendly, and generally happy to see her. After a little bit, she stopped having giggles altogether, and could manage to hold a decent talk, but something always seemed to interrupt them before she had the courage to make a move.

This was all to bewildering to Zippy, who had always been very assertive romantically before. She didn't know what it was about him that had this strange effect on her.

And so, Zippy focused on all her other concerns, particularly in the perplexing problem of Mrs. Variola's project, which she worked on constantly with Lizzy and Krystal, but a good solid idea still eluded them.

It was several weeks after their first dinner with Krystal, and Zippy had slipped into the hidden library for about the hundredth time. She scanned the book lined shelves, going over each volume, looking for some inspiration. The room smelled as dusty and musty as it always had, and Zippy brushed some away from several different volumes as she looked around. So far, nothing jumped out at her as a good source for Mrs. Variola's project.

She glanced over at the far wall, looking at that strange hexagonal plaque on the wall. She still had no idea what it was, but it looked like the one that led into the hidden library. She was sure it was a key hole of some kind, but she didn't have the key. She had contemplated picking it on several occasions, but she didn't want to set off any sort of alarm and be discovered here. And she had a pretty good feeling this was not your ordinary lock.

She turned her attention back to the books. She sighed, looking them over. She was about to give up and go back to the regular library when she spotted something she hadn't noticed before: on the left hand shelf, hidden behind several large volumes, lay another book sitting horizontally between the wall and the back of the books.

Curios, she reached behind the book and pulled the new volume out. It was far dustier the then others having sat back there for who knows how long. She had to remove several layers of dust and shoe away and upset spider to even make out the title. The book was large and bound in old fashioned black leather with a silver lettering and lining. There was even a metal clasp on the side, which fortunately was not locked. Finally getting enough dust off the book, she read the title.

"The Black Book Of Forbidden Science"

An ominous title if ever she'd heard one. A small gasp escaped her lips as she looked under the title and saw the author's names:

"By Dr. Victor Frankenstein

Dr. Henry Jekyll

Dr. Fu Manchu and

Dr. Mabuse"

She stared at the cover for a while and then opened the book scanning through the pages. If she had been surprised by the contents of the other books, this one astonished her. She flipped through each chapter with a growing sense of wonder and excitement. She couldn't believe what she was holding in her hands. And then, midway through the book, she stopped dead at one particular chapter.

At first, she couldn't quite believe what she was reading; it all seemed so impossible. But as she read through the words, she began to realize something shocking: This actually could work. It was radical stuff, far more advanced then anything she'd ever attempted, but she understood it, and she could tell it was indeed possible; possible, and completely doable.

A wide grin appeared on her face and her heart began to beat a mile a minute: This was what she'd been looking, hell; this was everything she needed and more for the project and for her academic career.

She quickly shoved the book into her bag, closing it tight so no one could see inside and checked through the peephole to make sure no one was out there to see her exit. She then slipped out of the hidden library and made a bee line through the regular one, giddy with excitement.

As she made for the exit, she giggled and chuckled in exhilaration, this was the holy grail of mad science, and she was about to rediscover it. As she ran though the room with her book back clutched protectively to her chest, she continued sniggering with enthusiasm, ignoring the 'shush' from Eve as she passed the vampire hanging upside down from the balcony as usual.

Mindful of Amber's constant spying, Zippy told Lizzy and Krystal to meet her in the forest outside the school grounds, and to tell no one of the meeting. It was late at night and the dark gloomy woods seemed like the perfect setting for a horror film or one of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The slightly damp grass under her feet stuck annoyingly to her shoes as she leaned against one of the ancient trees. A slight breeze made the branches move as they were alive and reaching out to Zippy. She wasn't one to get spooked that easily, but she couldn't deny that the effect of the forest was downright creepy.

The thick trees shielded her from view, and she waited, holding her arms around her until she finally heard Lizzy and Krystal approach. Both were shivering in the slight chill as they came up. She could tell from their faces that they weren't any more thrilled to be out here, but thanks to that bitch Amber, this was unfortunately necessary. They came up to her, holding small fluorescent lights so they could see.

"Good, you made it." Zippy straitened, "You're sure no one followed you?"

Lizzy nodded, "We slipped out a side door in the kitchen. No one followed us."

"So, what's so important it's got us out here in the middle of the night?" Krystal asked irritably.

Her irritation was understandable, in these conditions, but Zippy was pretty sure she'd forget all about it when she heard what Zippy had found.

"I've got the perfect project for Mrs. Variola's class." Zippy announced, "And I mean absolutely perfect, and completely revolutionary. I'm serious; if we pull this off, and I know that we can, we will not only get a good grade in the class, but we will have made history."

She said that last part with a dramatic whisper, laying in the set up for the big reveal.

Lizzy raised an eyebrow, "Sounds good, but how are we going to keep Amber from finding out about it?"

"I had a thought about that." Zippy waved a finger, "We've got two weeks of spring break coming up, right? And Lizzy, I know you're parents are going to be busy with that conference they have to go to, so you won't be going home this break. And, I don't mean to be rude, but I know for a fact that there's no way in hell you're going to go home for break at all, Krystal. No offense."

Krystal shrugged, "None taken, it's the truth. I'm not ready to face them yet."

Zippy went on, "So, what I was thinking was this: Why don't the two of you spend spring break with me at my parents' house. I'll talk to them and get 'em to let you both stay with us. Then we could do the project over break, there's a big basement in their house that they never use for anything other then laundry. I'm sure I can get them to let us set up shop there. They're very supportive, so they're probably go along with it. All the materials can be ordered through the usual channels, it's just one particular part that will require an . . . alternate method of procurement, but I think I know how to do that."

"Sounds good to me," Lizzy replied, "I really didn't want to spend the break taking care of Miss Fulci's zombies again. Have you seen those fast ones she's been making lately?"

The others were obviously intrigued. Krystal chuckled, "So, enough with the hard sell, what is it?"

"I found this in the hidden library." Zippy announced, pulling the book out of her bag, "It was hidden behind the other books."

Lizzy said, "It looks old, what is it."

Zippy grinned, "It's like a Necronomicon of mad science. This contains some of the most hidden and secret formulas of science in history. There's stuff in here that we shouldn't really even be reading."

Now as excited as her, Krystal chirped, "So what did you have in mind?"

Zippy flipped open to the chapter she had bookmarked and held the book out to them with an enthused smile and mischievous gleam in her eyes, "This."

Lizzy and Krystal both gasped when they saw what the chapter said.

**Awwwooooooo! I'm Katjia Farrell and it's my turn to tell you about the next story: Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal begin their project over spring break, and astound their parents when they find out what their daughter is really working on . . . Hey wait a minute! I'm not even in the next one? Find out what it is in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist,**** "The Sixth Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've got it!**


	6. The 6th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Sixth Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

It could be said of the Bergeson Laboratory that it was, in fact, one of the most secure privately owned research centers in this part of the country. It was late in the early hours of the morning, darkness still gripping the night outside as its employees slept. The lab was empty at this hour, completely; the closest thing to occupation was a guard that came by past the door once an hour. The Lab had the highest tech security systems in the world on every entrance and exit, key and password coded doors and every little piece of mind giver that money could buy.

Late at night, the lab was silent and quiet, the only sound being the slight hum of the refrigeration units that housed the preserved human organs, in particular the impressive collection of brains, donated to science by the genius' that originally possessed them after they had cast off their mortal coil. Here, the most remarkable brains of recent history were studied and analyzed, with the goal of one day understanding how to make people smarter, for anyone who's ever walked around outside had seen the need for such an eventuality.

Hence, the tight security on the large laboratory that occupied the entire 98th floor of the massive Baxter Science Building. The designers had thought of every eventuality. Everything, that is, except for one: Since the lab was on such a high floor, it hadn't occurred to them that someone might come in through the window. This was, at this time, exactly what someone was doing.

The three figures lay flat against the glass, held on by super compression suction cups that held them firmly to the side, even in the strong wind. Not one of them looked down. They were dressed head to toe in black photo camouflage gear that was rigged with tiny micro cameras along the material that took video and projected it along the opposite side of the suit. This did not render them invisible, but it did make it hard to spot them. The three burglars were small and thin, and if they could be spotted were distinctly female in shape. One of them was cutting open the window with a small laser.

Once the window was cut; she used one of the suction cups to lower the glass to the floor on the inside. Once done, they all slipped quietly into the lab. They quickly made haste across the laboratory floor, employing a dizzying series of means to break all the safeguards. Once the heat and pressure sensors were off, the video cameras looped, and the lasers deactivated, and every obstacle taken care of, the three thieves moved rapidly and purposefully towards the collection of brains.

One of them brought with them a small portable refrigeration unit, which she placed on the floor as the other one, the one who had cut the glass, began looking through the canisters that preserved the brains of the brightest. After a little bit, she found the one she wanted. Bringing it to her, she carefully began to remove it from its home.

One of the other thieves spoke, "Come on Zippy, let's hurry this up."

"Can't rush this, Krystal." Zippy replied, "This one is perfect, we can't afford to damage it. She was our age when she died, had an IQ of over 210, and was child progeny from age five. Scientist, musician, artist, engineer, she did it all. This is exactly what we need."

Opening up their refrigerator, Krystal removed another brain while Zippy quickly slipped the stolen one in. She then put the new brain into the stolen one's original housing and placed it back where she had found it. After making sure that the new brain was properly refrigerated and preserved, they sprinted back to the window and made their escape, using a different laser to reattach the glass. They scaled back down the building and disappeared into the night.

It would be six months before the break in and theft was even discovered, and the authorities were stumped. Not only had the thieves left no trace of themselves, but the police were baffled at how they'd managed to get in make off with their score. Not a single trace of the burglars had been discovered, and how they'd gotten in would remain a mystery.

Likewise, the lab owners were very embarrassed that it took them six months to realize that a prized human brain had been replaced by one from a chimpanzee.

For the first time in a long time, Zippy Zipperdale was finally back home. Specifically, she was in her basement, carefully sewing stitches on her new project, but she was home with her family, if only for a few weeks. She moved her hands dexterously, carefully moving the needle in and out, making sure the stitches were tight and close together. It was meticulous work, but necessary.

They had been at Zippy's house for two days, and her parents had joyfully welcomed both Lizzy and Krystal in the house for the break. Being as enthusiastic as always, they had let them all set up their experiment in the basement; not even batting an eye when all the scientific equipment started showing up. They even allowed Zippy to keep Jetson's tank in the living room. Although, truth be told, they did start looking a little worried when cases labeled "live organs" began arriving. Still, they had been accepting, and let them work.

The basement was a wide, standard basement, with wooden steps leading down from a door in the south west corner. One the opposite side sat two small windows looking out into their back yard on either side of the wall that let in a bit of additional light. The basement was lit overhead by a simple bulb, but Zippy had set up her own lights for her work. The only thing originally in the basement before had been the washing machine and dryer, and a small sink next to them along the east wall.

Now, the basement was filled with machines lining the west wall, large and small, all hooked up with a dizzying array of cables. There was a wooden desk in front of the south wall that had two top of the line laptops on it, also hooked up to the machine, and a large steel frame in the center of the room under which sat the table that Zippy was working on. A few chairs were scattered around, and camcorders on tripods recorded their work.

Zippy glanced around at the others: Lizzy, dressed in a shot black sleeveless dress, was crouched behind one of the large machines they were using, carefully securing some cables. Krystal dressed in jean shorts and a tank top, was taking a break, sitting on one of the chairs, reading a magazine. Zippy smiled a little, she looked so damn feminine like that, and she was impressed with how far Krystal had come. She sat with her legs crossed, reading a hairstyle magazine. It was hard to believe it had only been a month, but Zippy now regarded Krystal as a friend, although she could still be a pain in the ass sometimes. It was hard to believe they'd been such bitter enemies when she'd been Cristobel.

And Zippy had to admit, she couldn't have done this project without her. They had used Krystal's tissue regenerator to do the internal parts of the project, but had run into trouble using it on the external portions. It was Krystal who had figured out that the reagent they were using had interfered with the tissue regenerator when fused with the external cells. And so, here was Zippy using old fashioned stitches. She'd found a special steel alloy that was very tough, and should make the stitches hard to tear.

There was the sound of the door opening, and Zippy looked up to see her mother, Melody Zipperdale, coming down the stairs with a basket full of laundry. Melody had aged very well, a fact that made Zippy a little grateful that she had fifty percent of her DNA. She had a round, pretty face, slightly long nose, and wide brown eyes, all of it circled by a wavy mane of brown hair that went to her shoulders. She was casually dressed in a t-shirt and jeans that still showed off her thin but curvy figure; a little bit too curvy for Zippy sometimes, and she lamented the fact that she had not inherited her mother's bust line. Zippy chided herself again for her jealousy.

"Hi, guys." Melody chirped as she came down.

"Hi, Mom." Zippy replied, looking up before returning to her stitches.

"Hi, Melody." Krystal and Lizzy said in unison.

Causal as ever, Melody had insisted that her daughter's friends refer to her by her first name. Zippy suspected it was because "Mrs. Zipperdale" made her feel old.

She came down to the bottom of the stairs, holding the load of laundry under her arms. Grinning happily and obviously thrilled to have her daughter back with her.

Melody said, "I'm going to be making lunch soon, will you guys be up to eat? I know your busy, but you've gotta have food in your bodies."

Zippy nodded, "Just give us an hour to finish up here."

Melody moved towards the washing machine and the stopped when she got to the sink. She looked inside it, her mouth twisting a little in disgust.

"Uh . . . Zippy?" She began, staring at the contents of the sink, "What . . . what's this in the sink?"

"That would be the old brain." Zippy replied.

A few days later, everything was ready and they were all set to try. Sophisticated electronic equipment decorated the west wall of the basement, cables running from the back onto that large metal frame that sat in the center of the room. Sitting next to the equipment was a large metal tank from which tubes ran leading to injectors on all four struts of the frame. Small but powerful generators lined the north wall under the windows, connected to both the equipment and the frame by a series of thick snaking power cords. On the north side of the frame sat two long fold up tables on which sat three top of the line lap top computers. Cables from the lap tops ran to the equipment and to the frame.

In the center of the frame, sitting on a metal support, lay the table with their experiment under it, covered by a white sheet. Chain lifts ran from the front and back of the table to the top of the frame. All around the frame and behind the computer tables, camcorders on tripods prepared to record the experiment. They were as ready as they would ever be.

As Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal were going around there last preparation, dressed in lab coats just to be professional, the door opened and Zippy's parents came down the steps, looking around the room excited. Melody dropped down the floor first, followed by her husband Jasper, who held a small camcorder of his own. The two looked like your typical proud parents.

Behind them, Zippy's younger brother Zachery hopped down. He was one year younger then Zippy, and just as smart, however considerably lazier. He had brushed back sandy blonde hair and a round face decorated by small rectangular glasses. He was dressed in blue jeans and some kind of Japanese Animation T-shirt. Zach as they called him was an obsessive fan of that stuff, referring to himself as an otaku. Zippy thought that was an odd thing to admit to, since even anime itself tended to make fun of otaku.

"Hey, Zip." Zach said as he came, and then waved enthusiastically at Krystal, "Hi, Krystal."

Zippy smiled, Zach had all too obviously been completely taken with Krystal ever since he first saw her. He'd found every excuse he could to come down and hang out with her. Needless to say, Zippy hadn't told him that Krystal used to be a guy. Krystal, for her part, had been blissfully unaware of Zach's designs on her, having had no experience with it before.

Some more people were coming down the stairs.

"You've got some visitors, Zippy." Her father said glancing up at the small group coming down to the basement, "a few people would like to witness your moment of glory."

Zippy grinned, it was all the gang she'd used to hang with before going to Petri's. The first one down was her emo neighbor Jason, dressed mostly in baggy black clothes with thick black hair that he'd streaked with light browns and blondes, and which hung down over half his face. He was casual and pretty much accepting of everything no matter what it was. Zippy had never seen him get mad.

The other boy was Todd, a local jock from her old school who was much smarter the usual stereo type led you to believe. He was the sort of athlete who looked like he'd never had a pimple, with dark blond wavy hair brushed perfectly back over his head and held with mousse, and long chiseled features over a well toned and muscular body. He was dressed all in trendy fashions as usual, that hadn't changed. Like a lot of star athletes, Todd let it go to his head a bit, but not so much as to make him unbearable.

He was flanked as always by his girlfriend, Mirabelle. Mirabelle was a quiet and reserved girl with wavy brown hair and large glasses who Zippy had met through the science club, which was actually how she knew Todd. Mirabelle and Todd had been an odd couple, since it was an unwritten rule that star jocks date cheerleaders, but it wasn't like Mirabelle was some homely nerd: She was strikingly beautiful and had keen fashion sense that complimented her well proportioned figure quite nicely. Although she was quiet, she wasn't really shy, and dressed to show up her body, like right now, wearing a pink sleeveless half top and a white short jean skirt.

The last one down was Zippy's across the street neighbor, Mandy. Mandy was a tiny, diminutive shy girl who dressed to conceal her figure as much as possible. Zippy was aware that Mandy was actually much curvier then she looked in the baggy shirt and long dress she was wearing. Mandy had dark brown hair that went down to her shoulders, and a round and pretty face decorated with huge brown eyes, sometimes resembling one of Zach's anime girls.

Mandy lived right across the street, and as such, had been friends with Zippy and Zach since they were kids. Mandy was easily frightened and tended to be skittish, so Zippy and her brother had dragged her to endless horror films just to watch her freak out. Her reaction to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had been hysterical.

In her hands she clutched a familiar plastic box. Mandy was an avid baseball fan and as such had developed an affinity for collecting baseball cards. That box was where she kept them, so she had probably wanted to share some of her recent acquisitions with Zippy. She waved politely as she came down, clutching the box.

"Good." Zippy said, "You're all just in time for the experiment. And the more witnesses the better. Can I get everyone to stand back a little, please?"

"Cool." Jason said.

Everyone backed up, her parents looking at each other proudly, her father taping her like he was taping a sporting event. Of course, none of them had any idea what Zippy was about to do. Lizzy went around turning on the equipment, and then turning on the camcorders. When she was finished, she sat in front of one of the laptops, and began reading the screen. Krystal went and stood by the equipment.

Zippy looked into the camera and began to give her presentation, "Good evening, today, you are about to witness a historical experiment. Using up to date scientific methods, we are about to conduct an experiment in the creation of life."

Everyone looked at each other uncertainly, including Jasper and Melody who weren't sure what their daughter was driving at.

Zippy continued, "Specifically, the procedure you are about to witness, will attempt to reanimate a new human life form, one constructed from scratch from the best available human material that could be obtained. Our subject has been carefully and completely constructed, and if this procedure is a success, we will breathe new life into it, and create and brand new human being."

Now there were surprised gasps and frightened looks. Jasper and Melody were exchanging alarmed looks, having never suspected what their daughter might be up to. Mirabelle moved close to Todd and slightly behind him, while Todd looked like he might want to hide behind her just the same.

Only Jason was enthusiastic, grinning from ear to ear, "Awesome! So you're gonna make a Frankenstein?"

"Frankenstien was the name of the scientist, not the monster." Lizzy reminded him.

Mandy fixed her eyes on the sheet covering the table, realizing for the first time that the lump underneath it did bear a resemblance to a human body. Her eyes grew wide and her lips trembled with fear.

"Uh . . . Zippy," She asked timidly, her voice trembling as she pointed to the table, "I . . . um . . . is that . . .?"

Zippy looked back and nodded, 'That is our constructed human, which, hopefully, we will bring to life in a few minutes. The theory is not a new one; all life as we know it is a chemical reaction anyways, so it stands to reason that if you were to find the right chemical combination, you could effect re-animation in deceased organism. Using a combination of newly developed re-agent, and careful electrical stimulation to 'jump start' the nervous system, I believe, hopefully, that we will achieve re-animation with this process."

She then added, "Cross your fingers."

Jasper asked, his voice trembling a little, "Zippy? Are you sure this is safe?"

"Nope." Zippy admitted.

Zippy donned a pair of thick rubber gloves and pair of dark goggles. Lizzy handed out duplicate goggles to every one else. Mandy was so scared she had trouble putting them on correctly. One everyone had their goggles on, Lizzy returned to the table and Krystal switched on the machine. I low hum filled the room as the generators kicked in and the devices lit up, sending flickering lights across the basement walls.

Looking up from the computer screen, Lizzy said, "Were all set, all vitals at flat line."

"Throw open the switches on the sonic oscillator." Zippy said, "And step up the reactor power input three more points."

Krystal adjusted several of the machines, the hum grew louder and the lights flashed more. Mandy bit down on her fists, rickety with fear. All the others stared with shock as the machines grew louder and louder. Zippy's parents were still glancing at each other nervously, but her father kept his camera pointed at the action none the less. Only Jason watched with interest and enthusiasm, as usual.

Moving to the side of the table, Zippy gripped the chains with both hands. With long pulls she yanked the chains, rotating eh whiles. With a low creaking sound, the table lifted off the small lets and rose towards the top of the massive frame. Zippy quickly backed up once it was in place and waiting until the machines finished starting up.

Throwing out a finger, she cried, "Igor! Throw the switch!"

"Bite me!" Krystal cried and threw the switch.

There was a loud creaking noise and then a crackle of electricity. The frame flashed with blue sparks and arcs of electricity that flashed all over the basement like a strobe light. Suddenly, the body began to jerk and pulse as volts of electricity coursed through it, causing its muscles to spasm as its nerves were temporarily energized. The loud cracks of the shocks filled the basement, drowning out all other noise as the body jerked and twisted with arcs of lightening crackling all around it.

There was a loud thump as Mandy passed out cold on the floor.

Zippy waited until she thought it had had enough, and then she gestured for Krystal to stop. The arching lightening ceased and the crackling sputtered down and stopped as soon as Krystal threw the switch. Reaching over to the chain again, her hands protected by the metal gloves, Zippy lowered the platform about half way, right in front of the large injectors. Her hair stood on end a little from all the electricity in the air, held in place by the unique construction of the frame, effectively creating an electrically charged bubble within the struts.

Stepping back, Zippy ran to a switch on the side, "Now! Inject the re-agent!"

Krystal grabbed the next switch and pulled it. There was loud groan from tank and the volumes of glowing green liquid flowed through the tubes into the injectors on the struts. Zippy grabbed the switch on her side and threw it as soon at the liquid reached all of them. The injectors lurched forward, piercing the covering and the flesh and burying themselves deep within the assembled body beneath. There was soft chugging sound as the injectors began to pump the whole body full of the re-agent.

With a gurgling noise, the entire tank was emptied into the body. Zippy then lowered it to the stand on the bottom, and again electricity arced, now streaming from the top of the frame into the concealed body.

Zippy was giddy with excitement, she had never been so enthusiastic about a project before.

"Live! Live! Live!" She cried excitedly at the experiment.

Finally, the electricity stopped and the machines shut down. Zippy clutched her hands together and waited.

Mandy staggered back to her feet, woozily, and the eyed the frame again with fear.

"Still flat line, no vitals." Lizzy informed them.

Zippy stared at the platform, and at the sheeted body on top of it. She bit down on her lip, waiting for any sign of life, and little movement. She looked up and down with an increasing deflation, it wasn't moving. A sinking feeling began to gnaw at the pit of her stomach. She dropped her hands, starting to feel hopeless; there was no movement at all from the body.

"Still flat line." Lizzy said.

Zippy turned away, moving back to the table. She felt completely deflated and despondent; she had been so sure this would work. The sting of failure stabbed at her heart as she leaned on the table, a depressed, dismal look on her face. She thought she was going to cry any minute now as disappointment flooded every inch of her body.

Zippy's parents exchanged a relieved chuckle, looking at each other in respite.

She felt Krystal's hand on her shoulder; she looked up to see a rare expression of sympathy on the girl's face.

"Don't worry, Zippy." Krystal said soothingly, "We'll make this work."

Zippy patted Krystal's hand, her eyes welling up with the beginnings of tears; she hadn't felt this disappointed about the failure of any project in a long time. The grief was almost like loosing a friend; she had felt so completely positive that they could do this experiment. Now, not only would they not be making history, but they were right back where they started from, and had just wasted a lot of time.

With a considerate sound to her voice, Melody spoke up, "Zippy, honey? Maybe . . . Maybe you should try something . . . something a little less . . . ambitious . . .?"

She was cut off by Lizzy's excited cry, "I've got neural activity!"

Zippy ran to her and looked over her shoulder, quickly joined by Krystal, "Where? How much?"

Zippy stared at the screen, the neural activity was spiking all over the place, the levels rising rapidly. Krystal quickly looked at the other laptop and the bio readouts scrolling across the screen. The neural activity quickly increased, surging close to conscious levels.

"I've got a heart beat!" Krystal cried ecstatically, "I've got blood pressure increasing! Holy #%$! The lungs are inflating, its breathing!"

Mandy squealed in horror, hiding behind the others as Zippy looked back at the motionless body under the sheet. Suddenly, the sheet shifted as something moved underneath it.

"It's alive!" Zippy whispered.

Her heart pumping with excitement, Zippy ran to the table, her hair standing up again because of the electrically charged atmosphere. She grabbed the sheet and yanked it off the table, revealing the body beneath.

It was wrapped, head to toe in gauze bandages, looking like what an Egyptian mummy might have looked like right before it went into the sarcophagus. Six wide leather straps held the body down on the table, which Zippy quickly began to undo. When she was done, she leaned over, looking at the wrapped up body as the chest visibly rose and fell. And then, one arm started to rise, moving upward a little further and further.

Mandy fainted again, collapsing to the floor.

Zippy screamed elatedly, "Yes! Yes! It's alive! It's alive! Oh my god! I've always wanted to say that!"

Coming over quickly and joining Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal helped the bandaged creation sit up and then stand while every other still conscious person in the room stared in astonishment. The creature was taller then everyone else in the basement, easily past the six foot tall mark, and displayed a curvy feminine body underneath the tightly wrapped bandages.

"Man, your own Boris Karloff, wicked." Jason said.

"Uh, that looks like that's a woman there." Mirabelle said.

"Dude, you are so right." Jason cocked his head, "Who played the bride again?"

At the moment, nobody really cared that it was Elsa Lanchester. They stared in utter stupification as the newly created woman shuffled around, getting its footing. Mandy woke up again and cringed as she saw the tall bandaged wrapped figure in front of her. Immediately, Zippy unwrapped the bandages on the head, pulling them off and freeing the creature's face.

Long strait black hair spilled down the monster's head over her shoulders. The girl's face was, all things considered, very beautiful, in its hauntingly absurd way. She had a round, robust face with wide eyes and a small, perfectly proportioned nose over full, pouting lips. Her hair was a silky velvet color that shined a little in the dull lights of the basement. Zippy had been forced to comprise with her eyes, not being able to find a perfect pair, or at least two perfect ones the same color, her creation had a blue eye on the left and a green eye on the right. A snaky line of small stitches ran up diagonally through the middle of her face, stating at the right side of her chin and ending over her left eye. Hidden mostly by her hair, a line so thick stitches marked where the top of her head had been sewn together. On her neck was another circle of stitches where here whole head had been attached, just bellow the two round bolts on either side where the electricity had been conducted.

The creation looked rapidly and curiously from place to place, and person to person as Zippy unwrapped the bandages around her stomach, checking the line of stitches there and then unwrapped her hands, checking the attachments on the wrist. Again, Zippy had been stuck compromising with the hands: the creation's right hand was from a Korean woman, while her left hand was from a black woman.

Zippy looked up into her creations face as she continued to look around her, taking everything in curiously.

Zippy asked her, "Can you speak? Come on, I know you can; I put your tongue in there myself."

The creature opened its mouth and made a noise, "Whhaglllhrahhh."

Licking her lips, she tried to speak again, this time her voice came out in a surprisingly high, light, girlish voice.

"Where . . . am . . . I?" The creation asked.

"You're in my basement, in a laboratory we set up." Zippy said, fidgeting her hands with excitement.

The answer seemed to satisfy the creation; she turned her head back to its previous rapid movements, looking at the other people in quick glances. She stopped when she saw Jasper holding the camera, and attempted a smile and a bit of a pose playfully. Suddenly, she furrowed her brow in thought.

The creation turned back to Zippy, "Who . . . am I?"

"We haven't given you a name yet." Zippy told her, moving closer, thrilled at the inquisitiveness the creation showed right off the back.

Jason spoke up, "You should just call her 'Stitchy'. She's got enough of 'em."

"I . . . Stitchy." The creation repeated, smiling, apparently liking the name.

Looking around the basement some more, Stitchy looked back to Jasper and his camera. She grinned at it again a waved, causing Jasper to back up a little bit. She then tuned back to look down at Zippy.

"Who . . . are you?" Stitchy asked her.

"I'm Zippy. I created you with Lizzy and Krystal here." She said putting on hand on Stitchy's bandaged wrapped arm, "I gave you life."

Furrowing her brown once more, Stitchy rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Gave Stitchy life? Then you . . . ?"

All at once, Stitchy smiled widely and looked back to Zippy.

"Mommy!" She cried and grabbed Zippy in a tight bear hug, lifting her off the floor.

Zippy felt pain rush through her and Stitchy's strong arms felt like they were going to crush her. She was gripped in a vice like squeeze, almost like getting compressed by a boa constrictor. She cried out and struggled trying to break Stitchy's grasp.

"Ah! Stitchy!" She screamed in alarm, "Too tight! Too tight! You're squishing me!"

Instantly, Stitchy let go, dropping Zippy back to the ground, clapping both hands on her mouth, "I sorry."

Zippy put her hands on her knees and drew in deep breaths in large gasps, "You're . . . a little stronger then we had anticipated."

After a bit of silence, Melody spoke up nervously, "Uh . . . who wants burritos for lunch?"

Stitchy raised her hand.

While the others went upstairs, Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal remained to take care of a few things on Stitchy, unwrapping her bandages all the way and giving her a quick physical exam. Stitchy had been cheerfully compliant, inquisitively asking what each procedure was about. She also quickly took to referring to Zippy as 'Mom'. Everything seemed to fine, and Stitchy's mental capacities seemed quite adequate, as she understood most of the machinery in the room, and quickly impressed her creators with her ability to solve complex math problems in her head. Zippy was at a loss to explain her strange speech patterns, referring to herself in the third person constantly. When done, Zippy gave her one of her old dresses to wear, and they brought Stitchy upstairs.

The dress was a long, baggy outfit on Zippy, but on Stitchy it amounted to a mini dress, just barely covering her up. As she walked, Stitchy showed ample amounts of her long stitch covered legs and arms. As the four of them came up the stairs and crossed over to the large dining room, they could hear everyone talking in low whispers. It all stopped the minute they entered the room, so it was no mystery what they were talking about.

Stitchy looked around herself curiously, taking in every bit of the house as she saw it for the first time.

"Mom lives in a big house." She chirped happily.

They approached the table and took their seats. Jasper and Melody were seated at the front of the table, Todd and Mirabelle across from them, and Mandy on the other end. Zippy, Lizzy and Stitchy took seats to Melody's right, while Krystal took a seat on the other side next to Mirabelle. Jason sat between Lizzy and Mandy. Instantly, Zach slipped into a chair next to Krystal, so completely and obviously taken with her. It seemed to Zippy that she'd finally started to notice as she got a little uncomfortable.

As Stitchy sat down at the table, everyone stared at her nervously; except for Mandy who eyed Stitchy with undisguised fear. Seemingly blissfully unaware of the commotion she was causing, Stitchy simply looked around the room as curiously as ever.

Tentatively Melody said, "Uh, Zippy, I didn't make a burrito for your . . . project."

"That's okay." Zippy assured her, "I don't want her to eat solid food until I know how well her digestive tract works."

Zippy produced a few bottles of baby food and spooned it out onto Stitchy's plate. Stitchy regarded it and the burritos on everyone else's plate and then looked down at her own in disappointment. Zippy was elated when Stitchy picked up her spoon and began to use it without being shown how and gushed compliments at her creation who blushed and giggled.

Jason piped up, breaking the ice a bit, "So, do you get to do stuff like this at your school all the time?"

Zippy brightened, "Not like this, this is a completely unique project. But we've done some pretty amazing stuff with the resources we've got."

"Like what?" Mirabelle asked timidly.

Lizzy spoke up with her usual flat tone, "We perfected and performed the world's most advanced gender reassignment surgery, for one thing."

Zippy tried to kick her under the table, but missed.

There was an uncomfortable pause, and then Todd said, "Uh, and some guy actually volunteered for this?"

"Actually," Krystal spoke up, "They knocked me out and did it to me when I was unconscious."

There was a shocked silence as everyone turned to stared at Krystal, who simply shrugged and smiled.

"I'm good with it." She said casually.

"They did a good job on you." Zach said enthusiastically, not discouraged one bit by the revelation, "I think you're beautiful."

"Uh . . . thanks." Krystal stammered, suddenly blushing.

Mandy looked from Krystal to Zippy in confusion and horror, "Who are you and what have you done to Zippy Zipperdale?"

There was a pause, and then suddenly everyone just had burst out laughing at the comment. Everyone except Mandy who looked down at her plate, her face still frightened and scared. The rest of them started to loosen up a little bit and eat, trying to get used to the bizarre turn of events.

Melody felt like she was in a dream. She'd known her daughter was up to something peculiar. Hell, how could it not be with that weird school she was in? It had been like a nightmare from the start, finding out that Zippy was in some kind of mad scientist school, and that legally there was nothing they could do about. Even more when she'd realized that Zippy had embraced the school whole heartedly, even bringing her experiments home, along with the weird talking squid that now lived temporarily in their living room.

She sighed and zipped her juice, whishing it was bourbon. She suddenly became aware that her daughter's Frakengirl was staring at her with those creepy mismatched eyes.

"Who are you?" Stitchy asked her.

Melody set down her glass and took a deep breath. Be nice to it, she told herself, your daughter worked very hard to create that thing and her grades are riding on it. The least you can do is be civil to it.

She forced a smile, and said warmly, "I'm Melody, I'm Zippy's mother."

Stitchy touched her chin, looking back to Zippy in thought, "Mommy's mommy? Then you're . . . ?"

Stitchy brightened up and turned back to Melody with a wide grin.

"Grandma!" Stitchy said happily.

Melody almost chocked on her drink and got angry right away, fuming at the choice of words.

"Hey!" She shouted, "I'm too young to be a grandma! I was at Woodstock for Christ sakes!"

Stitchy swallowed, holding up her hands, "I . . . I sorry."

Turning away, she whispered to Zippy, "Mommy's mommy real sensitive about her age."

Zippy nodded in agreement.

Zippy climbed steps leading out of the basement, having gone through some more of the test data on Stitchy. Most of the visitors had left except for Jason who was talking to Lizzy about something they both had in common.

The rest of lunch went off without a hitch with most everyone starting to relax and exhibit some curiosity about Stitchy. Everyone, that was, except for Mandy, who continued to regard Stitchy with trepidation. Made worse when she went into the living room and encountered Jetson, waving his tentacles and greeting her enthusiastically, sending the timid girl running out of the house screaming.

When Stitchy had asked if all these people live in the house, Zippy had told her no, that they were neighbors and pointed out that Mandy lived right across the street. The answer seemed to satisfy the inquisitive Frankengirl. She took her back down to the basement got her undressed and performed a few more tests on her. After wards, she dressed her again and sent her upstairs while Zippy worked on a few more notes before realizing she hadn't run all the tests she need and heading back ups stairs with the others, minus Lizzy, who had seemed to disappear without telling anyone. Also she realized she had to change her shirt, as she'd gotten a lot of lubricant from the frame on it.

When she entered her bedroom she was in for a bit of a shock: Stitchy was there, leaning all the way over Zippy's desk looking out the open window, which faced the front of the house, looking down on the front law from the second floor. In the small dress she was wearing, the skirt had rode up and exposed her panties to whoever happened to walk into the room, which happened to be Zippy.

"Woah . . . uh." Zippy started, turning red for a second.

"Handsome boy." Stitchy remarked without taking her eyes off whoever she was watching.

Zippy walked over and pulled her skirt down, grinning sheepishly, "Sure, sure, very handsome boy. Now keep your dress down, ya' ho."

Zippy kicked herself as soon as she said that, realizing that Stitchy might not realize that she was kidding. But Stitchy paid the comment no mind, continuing to stare out the window with both her hands under her chin.

"Handsome boy." She repeated dreamily.

"Who are you looking at anyways?" Zippy wondered leaning over the desk and looking out the window as well.

She saw a tall boy from the neighborhood talking to a local girl. He was dressed all in denim, wearing blue jeans and a jean jacket that was open to reveal a t-shirt with some band on the front that Zippy wasn't familiar with. He had wavy brown hair brushed back and moussed in place, and deep blue eyes over a very well proportioned face. All of which was set on an athletic body that was obvious even under the jacket. Of course, Zippy knew he had a jock's body anyways; she'd grown up with him. Yes, he was very handsome, although he was the poster boy for the dumb jock cliché.

Zippy smiled, "That's Derek Simpleton, he lives two houses over. Good taste, actually."

She straitened up and turned her back on Stitchy, pulling her stained shirt off and tossing it in her hamper. She opened her closet and selected a simple grey half top that left her midriff a little bare and slipped it on comfortably.

As she did so, she said, "Listen, Stitchy, I've got some more tests I'd like to run on you. Nothing too scary, just some extra information I need. Is that all right with you?"

She turned around and was stunned to find the room empty, Stitchy was gone, no where to be seen. The door to the room was right next to the closet; no way could she have left that way. Zippy looked back and forth befuddled, until she looked out the window and yelped in horror: While her back was turned, Stitchy had simply unhitched the screen and crawled out the window, lithely crawling down the ivy trellis next to the window and dropping to the grass, not a surprising feet considering that her legs came from a Cirque Du Solei gymnast and dancer. Zippy could see her on the front lawn, gleefully heading towards Derek.

With a squeal of alarm, Zippy ran out of her bedroom and out the front door of the house chasing after her.

Derek had his back to Stitchy as she approached, talking amiably with the other girl, Peggy. Peggy noticed Stitchy first as she came up behind him, and gasped in fear and surprise. Derek, seeing her expression, and not being quite that slow on the uptake, turned around to see what she was looking at. His eyes grew wide as the giant sized girl, covered in stitches, came up to him with big ear to ear grin on her face.

"Hi. I Stitchy." Stitchy chirped pleasantly.

"Uh, hi." Derek said cautiously, looking up at the huge girl," I'm . . . uh . . . I'm Derek."

"Handsome boy, Derek." Stitchy said stepping closer to him, looking down at the boy from her higher vantage point.

"Uh, thanks." Derek replied timidly.

"I kiss you." Stitchy announced.

She gripped his shoulders with her large hands and lifted him off the ground, bringing him up to her face. Eagerly, she opened her mouth and then planted a kiss on his face with her lips wide open, looking not so much like she was kissing him and more like she was trying to swallow his whole head. Derek shivered in her grasp, but couldn't get her to let go.

Zippy ran up behind her, realizing she was already too late. She grabbed Stitchy's arm and the frankengirl dropped Derek to the ground, who promptly lost his footing and fell back on his ass, staring up at odd girl who had just kissed him. Peggy stood behind him, clapping her hands over her mouth to suppress her laughter, her previous fear now replaced entirely by amusement.

Zippy pulled Stitchy away and back towards the house, hastily apologizing, "Sorry about that, won't happen again."

As she was pulled away, Stitchy gleefully waved to Derek, "Bye, Handsome Boy Derek. Call Stitchy."

"Come on, lover girl; let's get you back to the house." Zippy said sternly as she pulled her giant creation along.

Peggy couldn't stop herself anymore, and burst out in uncontrollable giggles. That girl hadn't been dangerous at all, just affectionate and fun. It was hilarious the way she'd lifted him up and smooched him like that.

Derek stared after them, a slack jawed look on his face.

"Wow." He muttered.

Back down in the basement, Stitchy sat naked on the table while Zippy and Krystal ran a few more tests on her, poking and prodding her as necessary. She sat there cooperatively, if slightly annoyed by the constant jabbing. Zippy had wanted to get Lizzy's help as well, but she couldn't seem to find her. Even so, the tests only took a few minutes to complete and soon Stitchy got dressed again and Krystal and Zippy went back upstairs to collate the data, telling Stitchy to stay put.

Wandering around the room, Stitchy gazed with interest at the large contraption that she was told had given her life. If Zippy was her mother, perhaps this rather ugly conception of struts and machines might be her father, in a way. She ran her large hand over the strut, looking it over with her keen vision. Something foggy rose in her brain, she recognized a lot of this stuff, she knew what it was called, but she couldn't remember form where.

She looked around until she found the laptops on the table. Looking them over, she realized she knew how to operate them. She smiled, about to sit down and bring up the internet, when she spied something in the corner, lying on the floor. She went over and crouched down over it, looking it over.

It was a box, about the size of shoe box, but made of a thicker material. It had fallen open, and small cards lay scattered on the floor. Stitchy picked one up, and saw a picture of some good looking man in a uniform with a number on the front swinging a large wooden club. She furrowed her brow as the information came back to her: A baseball player; this was a baseball player and these were baseball cards. And one hunky baseball player at that, Stitchy licked her lips playfully as she gathered up the cards and put them back in the box.

It looked familiar; she'd seen this box before. She looked at the lid and saw the inscription, "Mandy's baseball cards." That's right; Mandy had this box when Stitchy had first come alive. She slipped all the cards into the box and thought about it for a second. Mommy had said that Mandy lived in the house right across the street.

Stitchy smiled, she would just have to return them to her.

Leaving the basement, Stitchy carried the box out the front door and walked to the edge of the street. Remembering foggily what this was, and that she should look out for cars, she looked both ways before crossing up to the large well landscaped house where Mandy lived. Somebody had watered the front garden as it was damp and puddles of water were pooled up here and there. The garden was set up in various levels separated by red brick in curved patterns, filled with a spectacular array of colored flora. Stitchy stopped to gaze at them before heading up to the door.

For a split second, she was confused as to what she was supposed to do now. Then it came back to her and she jutted one large finger out and pressed the door bell, hearing a few bars of something play when she did. She giggled; it was somehow a little amusing.

She heard the muffled sound of footsteps approaching the door and then the sound of locks being undone. The door swung open, and Stitchy smiled as she saw Mandy in the doorway. Mandy's eyes grew wide as she saw her.

"Hi, Mandy . . ." Stitchy began.

But Mandy only screamed in terror and slammed the door in Stitchy's confused face with a loud bang. Stitchy flinched in surprise; this wasn't what she had expected. From behind the door, Stitchy could hear Mandy's panicked, shrill voice screaming.

"Go away!" Mandy shrieked, "Leave me alone, you horrible ugly monster!"

Stitchy took a few steps back, perplexed by Mandy's reaction. After all, she had simply come to return her baseball cards. She thought about ringing the doorbell again, but then thought better of it. She felt hurt, and sad by the way Mandy had reacted, and that didn't feel good. She had only tried to be friendly.

Stitchy bent down and left the box on the porch, and with a depressed sigh, turned her back on the door, starting to walk back to Mommy's house. She couldn't understand why Mandy would be afraid of her; she certainly wasn't going to hurt anyone. A stabbing feeling of loss gnawed at her belly, she had wanted her and Mandy to be friends. She couldn't fathom why she had reacted like that.

And then Stitchy caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the puddles.

Zippy climbed out of the basement, frustrated and annoyed. She'd told Stitchy to stay put, but obviously she hadn't. In a way, that was a good thing; her creation was demonstrating more independent thought then she'd anticipated. But for practical reasons, it was irritating. She couldn't just have her creation wandering off whenever she felt like it. She had her grades riding on this after all.

She wandered around the house, looking for Stitchy. The house was large, but there wasn't that many places the giant girl could be hiding. Getting worried, she went back and forth checking the rooms. For that matter, where the hell was Lizzy? Zippy hadn't seen her in hours, where had she wandered off too? She started to fret, hoping Stitchy hadn't gotten herself hurt. As she walked through the living room, Zippy finally spotted her across the street by Mandy's house, crouched down and looking at something in the garden.

Zippy groaned with exasperation, she'd not only left the basement but she'd left the house. She would have to be clearer in telling her that she wasn't to go wandering off by herself. She probably should say something similar to Lizzy, where in the world had her roommate gone? But no, Lizzy could take care of herself; Stitchy was the primary concern. Christ, what if something happened to her? She walked out the front door purposefully and crossed the street to where the large girl still crouched, looking into a puddle of water.

"Damn it, Stitchy!" Zippy said sternly, "You can't go wandering off like that . . ."

She stopped dead as Stitchy looked up at her, and Zippy saw tears streaming down her face. Her first reaction was scientific: She's crying! Even the tear ducts work! But then she saw that her creation was genuinely upset about something, even miserable. Stitchy sniffed, her body shaking as she sobbed, more tears running from her mismatched eyes down her cheeks. She looked up at Zippy with a heartrending sadness.

Zippy's annoyance and anger quickly washed away replaced by concern.

Stitchy held her hands to her face, "Scary?"

Zippy opened her mouth, but only a gasp came out. She knelt down next to Stitchy, putting a hand on her shoulder, troubled how. What in the world had happened to her?

"Who said that?" Zippy asked her soothingly, "Who said you were scary?"

"Mandy." Stitchy blubbered, "She scream and say Stitchy horrible ugly monster."

"Mandy?" Zippy asked.

"Stitchy come to return Mandy's box. Mandy's baseball cards." Stitchy wailed, "But Mandy scream and slam door. She call Stitchy horrible ugly monster. And look at Stitchy's face, it true. Stitchy horrible and ugly."

As Stitchy dissolved back into sobs, Zippy gritted her teeth, "Mandy's an idiot. She scared of everything. She's even scared of sock puppets."

A small giggle appeared from Stitchy, "Really?"

"Really."

Looking back at her reflection, Stitchy's brief smile faded, "Stitchy ugly."

Zippy put her arm around her and lifted her up, bringing her back to the house with her, "No, that's not true, Stitchy. You're very beautiful."

"You have to say that!" Stitchy whined, "You Stitchy's Mommy!"

Yeah, Zippy thought, that was probably true. She took Stitchy up to the house and inside where she found Krystal talking to Zach, who was looking at her with reverential eyes as usual. They both looked up and stood when they saw Stitchy crying.

Melody entered and did the same thing. She hesitated, as she was still very nervous around the huge frankengirl. Especially since her daughter had made her stronger then a normal human being. But as she stared at it, she could see how distraught Stitchy was. The fear began to ebb away, Stitchy certainly did not look like any sort of monster, and she simply looked like a sad and hurt young girl. Taking a deep breath, Melody went over to them.

As Zippy led Stitchy back to her bedroom and sat her on the bed, still sobbing. Melody came over and knelt down, putting a hand on her stitched up shoulder, slipping easily into her soothing tone of voice she used with her kids.

"Honey, what happened?" Melody asked, feeling a little strange calling her that.

"Stitchy just got her first taste of bigotry." Zippy answered darkly, before explaining what had happened to everyone.

Listening to what Stitchy had gone through just trying to be nice, Melody felt a pang of guilt; she hadn't treated the weird assembled girl that much differently. Of course, her creation had been a complete and total shock. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of her reaction, even though it was a perfectly normal reaction to finding your child doing Frankenstein experiments in your basement. Still, Stitchy didn't look like she was going to be tossing any little girls into lakes.

Hearing the commotion, Jasper entered the room and quickly understood the situation. Very quickly, everyone was crowding around Stitchy, attempting to consol her.

"It true." Stitchy moaned, "Stitchy scary and ugly."

"No, that's not true," Zack told her, half because he was trying to score points with Krystal, "You're concentrating on the stitches, the rest of you is very pretty. Trust me, I'm a guy, I know these things."

Stitchy managed a tearful giggle.

Suddenly, Zippy realized one person was missing, "Where's Lizzy?

Krystal shrugged, "Dunno. I haven't seen her."

After a while, they managed to cheer Stitchy up a bit, Zippy turned and left the room, going out the front door to give her best friend, no, make that her former best friend a piece of her mind.

After Zippy left, Melody went to the kitchen to get Stitchy something to drink. As she went through the living room, the doorbell rang. Frowning, Melody walked over to it and was surprised to find the Simpleton boy, Derek, standing out on the porch. He looked nervous and shuffled his feet timidly.

"Derek? What can I do for you?" Melody asked.

He blushed a little bit and didn't answer right away. When he finally did, he stuttered a little with anxiety.

"Um, hello, Mrs. Zipperdale . . . I . . . uh . . ." He stammered.

"Yes?" Melody asked, somewhat put off by his embarrassed manner.

"Um . . ." He asked, and then smiled a little, "Is Stitchy here?"

Sometime after the monster had left, Mandy's father had come home. Mandy had remained her room, trembling, and hadn't told him what happened yet. She was still up there, agitated and scared, expecting that huge horrible monster girl to come bursting through the door to wrap her hands around her neck any second.

Why? Why would Zippy have made something like that? She shuddered, thinking of the horrible thing, and what it might have wanted to do to her. She thought of its huge size, it horrid criss cross of stitches, and those weird different colored eyes. In her mind, the creature had looked positively evil. She shivered again, pulling her legs up to her chin. Was she going to die? Would that thing come in from across the street at night and kill her in her sleep. Fear gnawed at the pit of her stomach.

So much so that she jumped and yelped when she heard a nock on her bedroom door.

Her father's voice came from the other side, "Mandy, honey, you have a visitor."

The door opened, and Mandy was surprised as Zippy walked in the room. Ignoring the hard look on her face, Mandy ran to her, her eyes wide.

"Zippy, you've got to destroy it." She grabbed her friend by the shoulders, "It was here, it was trying to get me. You've got to kill it before it's too late."

"Mandy, what are you . . .?" Her father said, perplexed.

And then, suddenly, Mandy was reeling back across the room from a quick powerful blow to the side of her face. Pain radiated out from her cheek and her teeth clacked together hurtfully. She staggered back, dazed from the impact, and fell to the floor, jarring herself even more. She looked up bewildered to see Zippy standing over her with balled fists and a look of rage on her face.

Zippy had slapped her.

"Zippy! What the hell!" Mandy's father cried and started forward.

Zippy shoved a familiar box angrily into Mandy's hands, looking at her hard, "Stitchy was just trying to return these to you. You left them at my house."

Mandy looked at the box in surprise, "My baseball cards."

She had forgotten all about them.

"She was just trying to be nice," Zippy hissed through clenched teeth, "And what do you do? You called her a 'horrible ugly monster'."

"Mandy!" Her father said aghast, "You said that to someone? I taught you better then that!"

"Dad, you haven't seen her. She's . . ." Mandy began.

"That's enough, Mandy!" Her father interrupted, "I've tried to teach you not to judge people just by the way they look."

"But . . ." Mandy tried again.

"I found her crying looking at her reflection." Zippy shouted at her, "You really hurt her, Mandy. She's just getting to know herself, and you cut her down. She was completely in tears. Now she thinks she's ugly."

Zippy angrily shoved Mandy down again, "Stay away from her."

And with that, Zippy turned and stormed out the door. Mandy's father stared down at her, a severe expression of disappointment on his face. He shook his head and turned his back on her, walking out the door and closing it behind him.

As he left, she heard him say, "I'm sorry about her."

Mandy gritted her teeth: That was her Dad, always believing everyone else before he'd believe her. Always so sure that she had to be in the wrong, always so sure that she didn't know what she was doing, or that the other person simply had to be right. It was an irritating trait, but in this situation, Mandy was starting to feel that maybe he was right.

Looking down at the box in her hands, Mandy felt the fear dissipate, only to be replaced by an even worse feeling: Guilt. She thought about before, and began to realize some things that she hadn't noticed. Jesus, when she'd opened the door, the creature had been smiling. There had been nothing threatening about its . . . about her manner at all. Zippy was right, she had only been trying to be nice.

She clutched the box, shivering in shame: Her father was right too, she had let her fear cloud her reason, and she'd treated Stitchy badly just because of the way she looked. It was a prejudice, she realized, she'd been acting no better then some racist asshole scared of the black family on the corner. Tears moistened her cheeks, she felt horrible, worse then she had when she'd been afraid.

She clutched the box to her chest and whispered "I'm sorry" to no one in particular.

Still fuming but calming down a little, Zippy crossed the street and went back to her house, entering the front door and heading for her room to see how Stitchy was doing. She was still so mad at how Mandy had treated Stitchy, after she'd worked so hard to create her. She wondered, briefly, if this was how her mother felt when she got over protective of her. A smile crossed her face; that wasn't really the same thing. But, as she'd created Stitchy with her own two hands, she did feel somewhat protective of her. And truth be told, it had made her heart ache a little bit to see her crying like that.

Zippy climbed the stairs, thinking to herself. It was Mandy's prejudice that irked her the most; the way she'd been so convinced that Stitchy was something evil just because she was different. Stitchy had been friendly and nice sine she first came to life, not a hint of malice in her, and yet Mandy had seen her as Jack The Ripper. Zippy bit her lip; she didn't think she'd be friends with Mandy anymore after this.

She stopped as she got to the door of her room, surprised to find her mom, her brother and Krystal outside the half closed door, peering in like they were spying on someone. They were hunched over, looking for all the world like characters on a sit com, watching with rapt attention.

"What are you guys doing?" Zippy asked.

"Shhhhh." He mother put a finger to her lips.

Zack looked up, grinning, and whispered, "Look, Stitchy has friend."

Curious, Zippy crept over and peered in the doorway to see what they were staring at. To her surprise, she saw Stitchy sitting on the bed next to Derek Simpleton, taking happily. Looking over their body language and facial expression, Zippy realized they were flirting with each other, and Stitchy seemed to have fallen into it naturally. Zippy's scientific mind clicked on, intrigued by this new grasp of social interaction on her creation's part.

"She's interacting socially," Zippy breathed, "And with a member of the opposite sex, this is fascinating."

"She's flirting." Melody grinned.

"And she's good at it." Zack observed.

"I have to document this developing behavior." Zippy said, "Where did we put the cameras?"

"Zippy . . . you shouldn't go spying on them." Melody admonished.

"Says the woman who's spying on them." Zach said.

"We put all the cameras in the guest bedroom." Krystal told her.

As Zippy go up to go get one, she heard Zach exclaim, "Omigosh! They kissed!"

Zippy turned back and was surprised to see Stitchy and Derek not just kissing, but completely making out, arms wrapped around each other, pulling each other close. Stitchy seemed to have gotten he hang of it now, because their lips moved against each other with easy, passionate kisses. Zippy felt her face go hot as she blushed, watching them. Her objective scientific mind wasn't all that detached after all.

"She sure doesn't seem to think she's ugly anymore." Melody observed.

"Romantic interaction, I need to document this." She said standing and quickly darting over to the guest bedroom.

As she opened the door, however, she got one more surprise: There lying on the bed, were Lizzy and Jason, kissing and hugging and making out like there was no tomorrow. They lay sideways, pressed up against each other; one of Lizzy's legs draped over Jason a he ran his fingers through her hair. They were so into each other; they didn't even notice Zippy at first. When they did, they broke the kiss, but didn't give much of a hint of embarrassment and didn't let go of each other.

Zippy felt herself blush; this was where Lizzy had been all day. Zippy was no prude by any means, but the idea that her dispassionate gloomy room mate might have snuck off to play tonsil hockey with a guy was surprising enough to be a little embarrassing.

"Uh . . . sorry." Zippy stammered lamely.

"Hi, Zippy." Lizzy said, grinning mischievously.

With nothing to say, Zippy simply reached down and grabbed up the first camera she saw, sitting on the top of a box with the others. As she picked it up, Melody and Krystal stuck their heads around the corner, both instantly displaying sheepish grins.

"I should have warned you," Melody chuckled, "They've been up here for hours."

Lizzy and Jason ignored them and planted their lips on each other. Zippy hastily slipped out closing the door behind her. Her brain was doing summersaults; Lizzy, of all people. Well, get a grip, Zippy, Lizzy's just as much a girl as you are, and you've spent lots of time holed up with guys sucking face.

All in all, this had been an exciting day: Her project had been a success. Hell, her project was apparently gettin' some. Krystal was displaying more feminine traits, and Lizzy had proved that she wasn't quite as cold as she always looked. Despite everything that had happened, this would have to go down as a positive day for all of them. Zippy smiled a little to herself, it wasn't very scientific, but things had a way of working out for themselves.

Krystal giggled still a little red, "Well, I guess there's romance in the air today."

Krystal cringed as soon as she said it, because Zack was looking at her expectantly.

**Woof! Woof! Hi, I'm Nadjia Farrell! Unfortunately, my sister and I aren't in the next chapter either, but don't let that put you off because Stitchy takes her first stroll away from the house, Krystal finds herself giving a fashion show, and Mandy gets into some serious trouble in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist**** "The Seventh Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've got it!**


	7. The 7th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Seventh Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

The soft but intrusive sound of the alarm clock beeping woke up Krystal Bell from her fitful sleep. She had been dreaming of floating naked through a vast maze like cavern, inside a giant living machine, a massive biomechanical behemoth of endlessly intricate and ingenious design. Whoever built it and for what purpose, Krystal didn't know, but it was enough to behold this massive wonder of science and engineering with her own eyes. Definitely a constructed machine made of living breathing tissue, the ultimate mesh of the organic and the artificial. Goose bumps rose on her arms in excitement as she gently floated through the endless caverns.

Needless to say, she was deliriously disappointed to suddenly be back in the land of the waking. Groaning with disappointment, she shoved herself out of bed. For a second she was confused as to where she was, but finally remembered that she was in one of the guest bedrooms in Zippy's house. She looked to the side of the bed and found that her current bunk mate Lizzy was already awake and long gone. It had taken a little getting used to, sharing the large king sized bed with Lizzy; Krystal had always had a bed to herself. It was made a little more uncomfortable by Lizzy's odd habit of mumbling in her sleep, babbling about all manner of fantasy creatures that Krystal couldn't even begin to identify.

She slipped her feet over the edge of the bed and forced herself out, standing up in the medium sized room. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned with her mouth wide open. Scratching an irritating itch on her butt, she headed for the bathroom. Once inside she stripped off the old t-shirt and sweat pants that she had been sleeping in and made for the shower.

She stopped, in front of the mirror, turning to look at herself, letting her eyes roll over the reflection of her naked body. It seemed so strange, at that moment, looking at the body that had once been so unfamiliar to her. At one time she hadn't been able to look in a mirror without blushing all over. Hell, when she'd first seen herself naked, she'd thought her blood was going to boil so much she'd get a nose bleed. Now, it was just her body, plain and simple. It had been weeks since she'd woken up and felt the uncomfortable unfamiliar bulge of her breasts. Now, they were as much a part of her as her arms and legs.

Not that she didn't enjoy looking at herself; truth be told, although she'd probably never admit this to Zippy, her one time rival had done a spectacular job on her. She ran her hands over her curves, looking over the soft skin and beautiful figure. She had to admit, she did love her new body, and she did like the way she looked. She could never go back to being a guy, so she could only look forward. It occurred to her, that she had been dreaming of herself in this body, not her old one. That was probably a good sign; or a bad one, depending on how you looked at it.

She giggled to herself, time to clean up this nice body before doing anything else. She pulled the shower curtain open and stepped in, turning on the water and letting it run all over. Grabbing the liquid soap, she began to lather all over her body, feeling it clean and refresh her as it did. She was also grateful to Zippy for permanently removing all her body hair. Unlike Zippy or Lizzy; hell, unlike Stitchy for that matter, Krystal didn't have to shave anything. It certainly made the morning ritual that much easier. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for Stitchy to shave her legs around those lines of stitches.

Running the smooth liquid soap over herself, Krystal thought about some of what had happened the last few days. It wasn't the kind of thing she would say out load, but she was excited just to be a part of this project. Sure, this had been Zippy's baby all the way, and she had only assisted, but it was thrilled just to be a part of this, to be here to witness scientific history. Inwardly, she was so glad that Zippy had invited her along. She couldn't help but feel a slight warm feeling of affection for her two room mates, despite what they had done to her. Except for Kevin, she had never had friends like them before.

As it had happened, despite their bitter rivalry, and despite everything she had done to them as Cristobel, they had taken her in and been there for her when she'd had absolutely no one to depend on. It was hard to hold a grudge for someone after that, and Krystal had begun to realize the value of real friends for the first time in her life.

There was also Zippy's parents; Krystal hadn't really told them this, but she adored them. They were everything her parents weren't: supportive, encouraging, friendly and funny. Sometimes Krystal wondered playfully if they'd adopt her one day. She snickered at the thought of being Zippy's sister. It was a ludicrous idea, but deep down, Krystal envied Zippy's home environment. Even with Zach following her around like a love struck puppy.

She sighed thinking of Zippy's brother: Not having much romantic experience, she hadn't noticed it at first, but now she couldn't deny it: The guy was not just interested in her, he was completely infatuated with her. It made her nervous, she still in many ways thought like a guy, and the attention instinctively made her retract, but another large part of her was responding to him a little bit. Hell, she'd been a guy only a month and a half or so ago. True, that didn't seem to bother Zach all the much. He seemed as open minded as his sister. She felt flattered at how much he was taken with her that was for sure. And, truth be told, he wasn't bad looking; the female hormones her artificial organs pumped her with saw to it that the attraction was not completely one sided.

She pursed her lips, she shouldn't be rebelling against these feelings; she was now a girl after all. Zach was a nice guy, and although quite a bit nerdy, she did enjoy his company. In actuality, she'd actually found herself more attracted to Todd, surprised a little that she'd respond to the jock type, but all those chiseled features and well built frame had made her heart beat a little bit faster. But he had a girlfriend, so that wasn't going anywhere.

She paused, smiling to herself; without realizing she was doing it, she had started to think about going out with guys. Well, she thought, maybe she should start? She was a woman now; she would remain one until the day she died. Her body was telling her what she wanted, why not explore this a little bit? Or was it too soon? It had barely been over a month since the surgery. But there it was; quite definite that she did want to explore these feelings, although she probably wouldn't express this at all to the others.

But a large part of her was revolting at these thoughts: deep down, she was uncomfortable with her attraction to guys, frightened of it actually. She knew why; she had been one her whole life. Admitting to this new interest in them would mean accepting herself fully as a woman, and she just wasn't ready to do that yet. She was, she knew, a largely different person from who she was a few months ago, but she just couldn't cast off her previous life like it never happened. Part of her was still wondering if liking guys made her 'gay', as silly as that sounded.

She shut off the shower and toweled herself off, going back into the bedroom. She dressed casually in jeans and a slightly short t-shirt that exposed a little midriff. She then spent a large amount of time on her hair and make up. It was something she had picked up right away: girlishly fussing over her appearance. She worked carefully, until she thought she was pretty enough, and then headed down out and downstairs to meet the others.

As soon as she reach the top of the staircase, she found Lizzy standing there, dressed all in black as usual in a lacey "Goth Lolita" outfit that suited her personality to a T. She had serious look on her face, at least more serious then usual. As Krystal came up to her, she spoke.

"I believe there has been an unfortunate development with Stitchy." Lizzy informed her.

Catching her breath, concern flowed through Krystal. She had been worried, like her partners, about something going wrong with their creation, either physically or mentally after her resurrection. After all, they were in uncharted territory here; there was no telling what could happen. Troubled, she followed Lizzy downstairs, a million nightmare scenarios filling her head.

What could be wrong with Stitchy? Krystal took a deep breath and thought about it: Their grades were riding on this project. If it failed, they'd have nothing else to do, certainly nothing as impressive. It was more then just that, however, Krystal realized; in the one day she had been alive, Stitchy had already endeared herself to everyone in the house, herself included. A few months ago, when she was Cristobel, she would never have seen her as anything other then a project, but now as Krystal, she had already begun to think of Stitchy as a friend, a member of their group as much as an experiment. She hoped she was alright, or that it was something they could fix.

Lizzy led her to the living room where Krystal found Stitchy seated in front of the television set along with Zach. They were watching some kind of Japanese cartoon; wide eyed anime characters flew across the screen engaged in all sorts of goofy antics. Stitchy was glued to the tube, her eyes wide and grinning like a Cheshire cat, giggling and laughing along with Zach.

"This so cute!" She declared, glancing back at Krystal.

Krystal looked at Lizzy questioningly.

Still looking serious, Lizzy replied, "It would seem Zippy's brother has turn our creation into a hopeless otaku."

Exhaling a breath of relief, Krystal punched Lizzy lightly on the arm, "Bitch! You had me all worked up!"

A rare smile crept across Lizzy's face.

Wait a minute; had Lizzy just told an actual joke?

Lying on her stomach over her bed, Mandy felt miserable. She had hardly slept all night and she had the dark circles under her eyes to prove it. After Zippy had left her father had yelled at her for ten strait minutes before storming out of the room; her behavior towards Stitchy had really ticked him off. Small wonder, her father had been a civil rights activist for most of his life, and had spent a lot of effort to teach his daughter not to judge people by race or creed or simply how they looked. In her fear, Mandy had dreadfully disappointed him, and Zippy.

And for that matter, Stitchy.

When she had seen Stitchy's creation, it had been the most frightening thing Mandy had ever beheld. Hell, she got scared during the resurrection scene in Frankenstein, and not the newer one with De Niro, the old one with that Karloff guy. What went on in Zippy's basement had been like a nightmare come to life for her. Just the thought of seeing that dead body get up and walk still gave her the shivers. It had seemed all perfectly rational to her at the time: How could anything like that be anything other then evil?

Now she realized, she had been utterly and completely stupid. For all Stitchy's massive size and frightening appearance, she had just wanted to return her cards to her. She had just wanted to be friends. And in her fear and paranoia, Mandy had thrown that back in her face, even making the huge Frankengirl cry. And now the fear was gone, but the guilt was eating Mandy up alive even worse. She felt miserable and horrible, crying every so often in shame, and even having a few thoughts of suicide flitter through her mind, which she had quickly dismissed.

Several times, Mandy had contemplated going over to Zippy's house and apologizing to Stitchy. But she wasn't sure Zippy would even let her in, and she didn't know if Stitchy might be still pissed. Even with most of her fear gone, Mandy still found Stitchy's size and power rather intimidating, and quickly decided it was best if she cooled down a little bit.

In the meantime, Mandy simply wallowed in her remorse and despondency.

After a while, she decided she had lay there in one spot long enough. She grabbed her shoes and decided to go for a walk.

As Lizzy carefully maneuvered down the hall of the vast, sprawling underground complex, she warily swung her rifle this way and that, checking all the corners. They could be hiding anywhere, the undead bastards, and they could spring out at any moment. For being brainless rotting corpses, they could be tricky sometimes. She kept going, cautiously, sweeping the barrel of her gun in front of her, she moved slowly.

It was quiet, much too quiet.

She slowed her pace, creeping forward inch by inch, and that was when they struck. Two of them up in front of her lurched out of the shadows and advanced, shambling quickly, their decayed arms reach out for her.

She fired, sending a bullet through the head of the closest one. The bullet hit right in the nasal cavity and exited the back, causing the zombie's head to explode in shower of crimson and gore like an over ripe melon. The body continued to stagger forward a few feet before collapsing to the ground.

Lizzy had already taken aim at the second one when a third zombie attacked her from behind, she had no time to react before the creature sank it's rotted teach into her flesh and took a huge bloody bite. The blood splashed over the screen which turned red. The words "You Are Dead" faded in with blood dripping letters followed up by "continue? Yes/No".

Lizzy shook the Playstation 3 controller in frustration, "Damn, this game is hard."

She sat in front of the wide screen TV in the Zipperdale's living room, the cordless controller in her hands as the screen gradually turned darker and darker. Gritting her teeth in determination, she moved the cursor to "yes", restarting Bio Zombie Gore Battle and began to play again.

Further back in the room, Zippy and Krystal sat around the coffee table, looking over several reports on Zippy's laptop. So far as they could tell, everything about Stitchy went exactly according to plan. They were still at a loss to explain her peculiar speech patterns, however. As far as they could tell, Stitchy's brain was working perfectly, although it retained no memories of its previous body, it retained all of its old skills. She was even able to solve a Rubix Cube in under a minute. Despite all this, Stitchy retained a certain amount of child like innocence, although based on her actions with Derek; her adult attractions were in full development.

Despite having created her from scratch, there were still so many things they simply didn't know about Stitchy.

Their thoughts were interrupted by Zippy's mother entering with the room from the stairs with Stitchy in tow, looming large behind her.

"Check it out, ladies." Melody Zipperdale grinned, "Our Stitchy has a new look."

Stitchy came out dressed in a large dark blue dress, looking a bit like something from the 1950s, which came down to her knees with sleeves that came down to her elbows. The dress fit her huge body a lot better then any of Zippy's dresses had, and seemed to compliment her fairly well.

She was also wearing a light make up that hid her facial stitches a little bit, and pantyhose that did the same for her legs, although she was not particularly shy about her stitch work (for that matter, Stitchy wasn't particularly shy at all.).

"Wow," Zippy mused, "It's perfect."

Stitchy smiled and did a twirl, letting the skirt billow out a bit.

"See? Stitchy hottie now." She declared, "Though Stitchy think Derek like smaller dress."

"Melody, where in the world did you get a dress that size?" Krystal wondered.

"I was wondering the same thing?" Zippy admitted.

Melody smiled, "Well, I was up in the attic and I found a trunk full of your great Aunt Zelda's old stuff. I'd almost forgotten that it was there."

"I guess Aunt Zelda was pretty big?" Lizzy wondered pausing the zombie game.

Zippy answered, "Over six feet, as I understand it."

Melody nodded, "Yes, but this dress was actually longer on her. I had to tailor it a bit to get it to fit right. A lot of the stuff in the trunk was way too outdated, but I found a few things I think might look good on her."

Grabbing Melody and hugging her, Stitchy declared, "Mommy's mommy so nice."

When she let go, Melody had to catch her breath for a second before coming over to Zippy and handing something else to her; it was an old worn copy of a large hardcover book, the dust jacket tattered and frayed.

"Look what else I found in there." Melody told her.

Zippy looked at the book. The title read, "Number Theory In The Hebrew Language: The Hidden Messages In The Torah And Talmud" by Zelda Zoe Zipperdale." Zippy looked over the book, curiously.

"Didn't you tell me Great Aunt Zelda was the crazy one?" Zippy asked her mother.

"That's what I heard, but she was also a skilled mathematician and historian." Melody replied, "She became convinced that there were hidden codes in the Torah And Talmud. You know, in Hebrew, letters are used for numbers, so she thought there was some kind of hidden message done with numeric ciphers in there somewhere. That book became her life's work."

Zippy examined the book, now interested. Stitchy came along beside her, looking at the book with distinct look of interest. Zippy flipped the book over on the back and found a picture of the author, the first picture of that Zippy had ever seen of her notorious great aunt. The picture depicted a woman in her mid forties with long wavy hair. The picture was in black and white, but Zippy could tell her ancestor had shared the same fiery red hair that she had. She was dressed in a plain grey dress that looked like the picture might have been taken in the thirties or forties. She wore large thick glasses on her face. She was standing in front of what looked like a college library carrying several reference books on Hebrew and mathematics in her arms. She was flanked by two assistants and Zippy could tell that she was, indeed, easily over six feet tall, though she didn't approach Stitchy's six foot seven mark.

Zippy grimaced as she noticed that even crazy old Great Aunt Zelda had bigger boobs then her. She shook off the unwelcome jealousy and continued to look at the book.

Zippy opened the book, glancing at the introduction while Melody headed off to the kitchen. Krystal leaned over glancing at the book with the others. This odd bit of family history was interesting enough, since it seemed Zippy wasn't the only member of her family to have mad science aspirations; or at least eccentric science.

Krystal's thought was interrupted as Zack entered the room with something in his arms. He made a bee line for Krystal but then stopped, a little flustered as opposed to his usual gushing enthusiasm. He stammered a little bit, turning red as he blushed. After a second of uncomfortable silence, Krystal finally broke it.

"What's up, Zack?" She asked.

"Um . . . I was . . ." He stammered, "I was wondering if, maybe you'd like to try this dress on."

He extended his arms revealing the black material in them. Krystal felt her heartbeat quicken as she realized he wanted her to model this dress for him. Conflicting emotions ran through her. She had just recently gotten used to Zach attraction to her, sort of, but she had never really worn an actual dress before. She was, however, used to wearing a skirt at school by now, but his was different: This outfit looked a little sexy.

Zippy looked at the scene bewildered: Why did her brother even have a dress?

Running her hand over the material, Krystal contemplated it: Did she really want to put this on for him. She knew he was asking just for fetishistic reasons, and part of her was cringing at the thought of him ogling her in this, but the other part of her was rising to the occasion again. She had begun to really enjoy the attention, and she had been curious about what it would be like to dress up more feminine. Besides, it couldn't hurt to humor him.

To everyone's surprise, Krystal said, "Okay."

She took the dress and promptly went up stairs to go put it on, flirtatiously shooting a smile at the beaming Zach on her way up. She kicked herself as soon as she did it; why was she acting like this. She couldn't really be interested in Zach could she? After all, she was really a guy. Then again, not anymore . . .

She came down feeling awkward and embarrassed; the black dress clung to her form, revealing all the curves that Zippy and Lizzy had given her. The front hung down in ruffles, revealing plenty of cleavage and while the bottom was lower then her school skirt, it still seemed to be somehow more revealing of her legs.

She blushed and grinned sheepishly as she came out to the stunned silence of all. Everyone stared at her in amazement. Zach grinned from ear to ear, his face flushed and red. At first, Krystal couldn't tell if they were staring because she looked good or because she looked stupid. The dress was a black number that hung down just above her knees. It was sleeveless, held over her shoulders with thin straps that dipped to a v-neck just at her cleavage.

"Er . . . waddaya think?" She mumbled lamely.

It was Zippy who broke the silence, "That's my dress."

At least now she knew where Zach had gotten it.

Krystal ignored her and turned to Zach, "H-how do I look?"

In an almost awed whisper, Zach said, "You're beautiful."

Krystal felt her face flush as blood rushed to it. Part of her was eating up all of this attention. She smiled but cast her gaze down at the floor sheepishly, muttering a thanks.

"Eeee!" Stitchy squealed, "Krystal so pretty!"

From his perch, Jetson piped up, waving his tentacles excitedly.

"Krystal, the critics all agree: You look fabulous tonight." He chirped.

"That's my dress." Zippy repeated, staring at it.

Krystal raised an eyebrow, "Yes, we have established that I am wearing your dress."

"It . . . it looks better on you then it does on me." Zippy grumbled, "Look at the way it hangs down from your shoulders and billows around your legs."

Krystal tossed her hair back, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

Jumping off his perch, Jetson quickly scrambled over to the couch where Zippy sat and hopped up the coffee table right next to her laptop.

"I think that dress would look better on you, Zippy." He declared hopefully.

Zippy gave him a slight smile, "Thank you, Jetson."

Everyone chuckled, but Zippy still looked livid. Zach looked so happy he seemed like he was going to pass out any second now. Krystal did a twirl, imitating Stitchy, and then struck a few poses that she'd seen runway models do. She was, genuinely, starting to have a little bit of fun. The dress certainly looked good on her, and she was beginning to understand why girls spent so much time on their clothes.

Melody entered and smiled when she saw Krystal, "My, don't you look lovely."

Krystal blushed and muttered a thanks.

Melody then turned to the rest of them, "Hey, could one of you run down to the store and pick up a few things for me? I'm out of some stuff I need for dinner."

"Guess I could go." Zippy said, standing up, and eager to get away from Krystal and how good she looked in Zippy's dress.

Lizzy turned around to look at her, "Maybe Stitchy should go. It would be good practice to see how well she can handle something like picking up groceries."

Stitchy shot to her feet, eager to please as always, "Yah! Stitchy help."

Zippy pursed her lips, "I don't know, Stitchy's never been out of the house by herself."

Melody offered, "Well, the store is three blocks away right down the street in a strait line, she could hardly get lost."

"Yeah, but I don't know if she's ready." Zippy replied cautiously.

Stitchy rolled her eyes, "Stitchy be fine, Mommy."

Zippy looked at her, "But it's a dangerous world out there."

"Awe come on," Krystal said, striking another pose, "Stitchy's scarier and more intimidating then anyone she's likely to meet in this town. No offense, Stitchy."

Stitchy grinned and flexed her muscles, "None taken; Stitchy strong!"

"I don't know about this." Zippy grumbled.

After a lot of debate, it was decided that it would be okay to let Stitchy go get the groceries. Melody took her back to the kitchen to show her what to get. And Zippy gave her a cell phone, a GPS locater, and printed up a Google map just to be sure, eliciting another roll of the eyes from her creation. After everything was set, and Zippy warned her for the tenth time to be careful, Stitchy went out the door and towards the store.

Zippy flipped on her laptop and watched Stitchy's GPS signal, worried. She still didn't like this.

The walk was not helping Mandy at all. She wandered around the neighborhood aimlessly, trying to shake the aching feelings of guilt without much success. She had walked past Zippy's house four times, each time considering knocking on the door. Each time she had chickened out. She was still kicking herself for not having the courage to make things right. She was now down the street walking away from the house. She'd left the residential area and was now in the business block.

Her eyes cast down at the sidewalk, as she lumbered forward dejectedly. She had probably lost one of her best friends, and lost the respect of her father. Not to mention a six foot seven Frankengirl who could probably crush her like a bug. Though truth be told, she now serious doubted Stitchy would do anything like that, as frightening as she was.

And that was the problem: No matter how nice Stitchy apparently was, Mandy cold help but be afraid of her massive form. Her inability to shake this irrational fear shamed her, and made her feel worse. Her father had been right when he'd said that he had raised her to not judge people by the way they looked, and here she was doing just that and unable to stop. Maybe it was naive of her father to assume that was completely possible. Even Stitchy's face, although she was very pretty with a doll like appearance, tended to creep Mandy out, especially with those odd mismatched eyes.

Mandy continued to walk, her head down, lost in thought. So lost in dejected thinking was she that she didn't notice the three men in the alley she was passing. She didn't realize they were there until they grabbed her and pulled her in.

Mandy screamed, but a hand went over her mouth and muffled her cries. She struggled, terrified, but the arms held her firmly and dragged her deeper into the alley. It was a small, narrow alley between two rather large buildings that rose up above them at least four stories.

The three men surrounded Mandy and then her holder violently threw her to the ground. She screamed in searing pain as her ankle twisted completely around the wrong way. Agony shot up her whole leg as she grabbed it, moaning and sobbing. From the sheer amount of pain, she knew it was sprained.

She lay on the filthy ground of the alley, her elbow in something disgusting that she didn't want to think about. She looked up at her attackers with tearful eyes. They were the kind of men you usually walked on the other side of the street to avoid, gang bangers of some kind, but they seemed to be an ethnic mix; two of them were white while the other was Hispanic. They were dressed mostly in denim outfits with gang signs scrawled all over them. They were heavily tattooed and pierced.

One of them, a tall Asian man with fake red hair that had caused Mandy to initially mistake him for white, growled at her, "Hey, slut, this is the part where you give us all your money, understand?"

With sudden horror, Mandy realized that she had left her purse at home; the only thing she had taken with her had been the house keys. She cringed as the three ruffians leaned in.

"I . . . I don't have any m-money." She sobbed.

She shrieked as she heard the sounds of several switch blades clicking open.

"Oh, tryin ta cheat us, huh, Bitch?" One of them, a black haired man, demanded, "Well, we're gonna have to take it out of yer hide then, slut."

The Hispanic one leapt forward and grabbed her by the hair, pulling it hard and making the timid girl scream. Horror swept through Mandy: She was going to die, she realized, she was going to be raped and then killed, and her life would end here. She moaned and cried in despair, tears flowing down her face in fear and misery.

Stitchy's head swung back and forth, her keen eyes trying to take in everything she could with her usual infectious curiosity. A few blocks after Mommy's house, the residential area ended at a main street and after crossing it Stitchy had found herself in the business district. She had Mommy's mommy's hand drawn map and the cell phone and printed up Google map that Mommy had given her, as well as the GPS locator. She strolled forward, glancing at all the things to see and all the different people she passed.

She was drawing quite a bit of stares; people looked up and stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing to gape at her. Stitchy didn't let it bother her too much anymore; she kept what Mommy had told her last night after Handsome Boy Derek had left in mind: She was unique, and people feared what was unfamiliar. So she smiled politely and waved to the people she passed.

Not all of the waved back and one ran away screaming. It was disheartening that so many people reacted that way to her. After all, most people who knew her seemed to like her. Derek really really really liked her. It made her sad that some people couldn't see her as anything else but scary.

Stitchy perked up: She would just have to change their minds then.

She stopped as a black teenage girl with a shaggy sheepdog on a leash came towards her. The girl was eating an ice cream cone and looking in the shop window next to her and didn't really see Stitchy. The dog, however, pulled forward on his leash, sniffed in Stitchy's direction apprehensively.

Stitchy leaned over with her hands on her knees, "Oh, he so cute. Can Stitchy pet him?"

"Yeah sure . . . Whoa!" The teenager said as she turned and caught sight of Stitchy fully.

Kneeling down, Stitchy put one massive hand out palm down for the dog. He moved forward hesitantly, and took several sniffs of her hand. After a while, he relaxed and let Stitchy pet him. She ran her hand over his head and along his back, feeling the soft fur that he was covered with. Charming the dog seemed to charm the girl, who relaxed a little as well.

"What his name?" Stitchy asked her, rubbing the dog behind his ears as his tail wagged back and forth.

"Chester." The girl replied, "And I'm Vanessa."

"I Stitchy." Stitchy told her proudly.

"'Stitchy'? You're serious." She asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Stitchy nodded, still petting now excited and friendly Chester. Vanessa eyed her with a little bit of trepidation before asked what was on her mind.

"Uh, do you mind if I ask what happened to you?" She asked, indicating the stitches with her finger on her own face.

Stitchy grinned sinisterly and leaned over to whisper conspiratorially, telling Vanessa the truth but making it seem like a joke.

"Stitchy a Frankenstein." She said in mock seriousness.

They both laughed and then said their 'nice meeting yous' and both went their separate ways, Vanessa quietly assuming that Stitchy was some foreign immigrant because of the way she talked. She was a couple blocks before she realized that Stitchy had, in fact, had bolts in her neck. She then decided the huge woman must be on her way to a costume party. She laughed at falling for Stitchy's joke.

Continuing towards the store, which she now could see up ahead, Stitchy felt giddy and happy: She had just made a new acquaintance, and after meeting her, Vanessa hadn't been scared of her at all; that was something. She felt a swell of confidence in her breast; she could do this, she could win people over and show them that she wasn't a monster. She giggled at little and stopped where she was.

She was right in front of a narrow alleyway, and she had spotted a very pretty black alley cat covered in fluffy dark fur, its wide green eye regarding her out of that sea of charcoal. It was so cute! Crouching down, Stitchy waved a hand gently at it.

"Here kitty, here kitty." She said softly.

Instead of coming over, the cat arched its back and hissed menacingly at her, before turning and darting down the alley away from her. Stitchy sighed, maybe not everyone she met was going to warm up to her the way Vanessa and Chester had. She pouted a little watching the cat run down the alley.

As he did, she suddenly noticed the commotion in there: Three guys all standing around and threatening a hurt and terrified young girl on the ground, waving knives at her. Suddenly, Stitchy realized that she knew the girl they were attacking.

It was Mandy.

Searing pain burned in Mandy's ankle and naked fear crawled in her belly. The Hispanic man grabbed her face with his hand and yanked her forward, her body protesting the violent movement. Her lips trembled as tears streamed down her cheeks, her wide eyes stared up at her attackers, pleading helplessly as she desperately hoped she would wake up from this nightmare. She blubbered pathetically, unable to speak.

The fake red head stepped forward and grabbed the front of Mandy's shirt. For a split horrible second, Mandy thought he was going to rip it off her. But instead he smacked her hard across the face. Mandy cried out at the stinging pain on her cheek. Her teeth clacked together agonizingly, just short of biting her tongue. Her attackers laughed viciously as she sobbed in misery.

Fake Red balled up his hand into a fist and threw his arm back to punch her. Mandy braced herself to receive the blow.

It never came as Red's elbow hit something soft but massive right behind him.

He turned to find his elbow poking right in the top part of the stomach of a huge girl standing directly behind him. Stitchy stood, glaring down at him with furious eyes, her massive hands planted on her hips and her lips curled up in a snarl. Red seemed to lose some of his arrogance as his eyes traveled up the large female form in the outdated dress.

"No hurt Mandy." Stitchy told him angrily.

After a brief pause, the tough guy façade came back up and Red straitened up. The switchblade came out again and he brandished it threateningly.

"You should learn to mind your own business, bitch." He hissed.

"Put down knife, you leave now." Stitchy said levelly, unfazed.

"What do you think you're gonna do, gigantress? You look like you been in an accident already." Red taunted, "What you gonna do?"

In a lightening fast movement, Stitchy's arm flew out and one massive hand grabbed Red around the face, her palm covering it entirely. In a split second, he suddenly found himself yanked off the ground and flying out of the alley at a rapid speed. He screamed in terror, his arms flailing as he was tossed as easily and a Nerf football. His flight ended as he slammed painfully into a line of newspaper stands by the curb. He crashed into them with such force that the metal heaved and bent ripping off the concrete as Red's bruised and hurt body slid down to the ground unconscious.

Hispanic and Black Hair both lunged at Stitchy, striking at her with their blades. Despite her huge size, Stitchy's grade A body parts and accentuated nerve endings allowed her to move lithely and rapidly; easily dodging out of the way of the blades. The thugs cut only air as they struck at her, the large girl effortlessly dodging each and every thrust and jab.

With a hand moving speedily, Stitchy caught Hispanic by the neck and with a coiling thrust of her arm, threw him upward with all the strength of her super strong muscles. The man suddenly found himself rocketing upward at an accelerated rate, flying upwards towards the top of the building.

To his utter surprise, he cleared the top of the four story buildings and continued flying upward, screaming like a little girl before he finally lost momentum and began fall back down. Looking down, he realized he was falling from a height of about seven stories and his screams got more frantic. Tears streamed from his face and he futilely tired to find something to grab onto.

Below, Black Hair was still trying to get a hit on the deceptively nimble Stitchy, not understanding how someone so big could movie as fast as Bruce Lee. Stitchy caught his hand and twisted it around with just a little force of her muscles, spraining and tearing his ligaments and casing the man the scream in agony and drop the knife.

From above, Hispanic's screams got closer and closer until Stitchy threw her hand out in an arc, connecting hard with Hispanic's chest as soon as he was close enough. Suddenly, he went instantaneously from falling downwards to flying sideways, smacking noisily into the alley wall with an agonizing slap before sliding to the ground out of commission.

Stitchy whipped her hand around and grabbed Black Hair by the neck, lifting him up off the ground. The man struggled mightily, his feet dangling a few inches off the ground, but could not break her grip. As Stitchy pushed the much smaller man up against the wall, she glanced at Mandy to make sure she was alright.

Mandy sat on the ground, both hands around one of her ankles, looking up at Stitchy. But instead of a look of relief or gratitude; she wore a look of shock and abject fear. Confused, Stitchy turned back to the man she held and suddenly understood way.

The man looked at her, eyes wide with horror and pleading.

"Don't kill me." He choked through her fingers, "Please don't kill me."

She could kill him, it would be so simple. With a simple twist of her hand, she could simply snap his neck, crush all the vertebrae in his spine and flatten his wind pipe so he couldn't breath. With one move, she could end this man's life, wipe out everything he was, and everything he ever would be. A horrific feeling crawled in Stitchy's gut, as she realized the amount of damage she could be capable of inflicting. It was frightening, scaring her to no end. She understood right away why Mandy was scared; she thought Stitchy really was going to kill this guy. And for a split second, Stitchy thought she would.

No, Stitchy would not be the monster Mandy was afraid of.

She slammed her captive hard against the wall, "Of course Stitchy no kill you. You think Stitchy stoopid, like you? But Stitchy hurt you even more if you hurt Stitchy's friends again."

Taking him, she flung him down the alley. He hit the ground and skidded several paces before struggling to his feet. The other two had started to wake up and stand as well. Stitchy loomed over them, ominously. She stared at them firmly; her hands once more on her hips.

"You run away now." Stitchy seethed, "And if Stitchy hear you do this again, Stitchy come back and hurt you worse."

When the thugs didn't move, she stepped forward hissed, "Get lost! Stitchy not just another pretty face!"

In a frantic, chaotic stampede, the three men ran like crazy, darting out the alley and putting as much distance between themselves and the gigantic girl as possible.

"There go the three stooges." Stitchy muttered as she slapped her hands clean.

Quickly, Stitchy turned and moved over to Mandy, who had not moved at all where she lay, her hands still wrapped around her ankle. She looked up at Stitchy, not saying a word as the huge stitch covered girl approached her.

"Mandy, you okay?" Stitchy asked her, concerned.

"Uh, yeah," Mandy said, shaking, "Thanks to you."

As Stitchy knelt down to her, all the trauma of the event seemed to catch up to Mandy, with a gulping choke, tears began to pour from her eyes and she shook violently, falling over into Stitchy's arm and sobbing loudly.

Stitchy maternally stroked her back and hair gently, letting Mandy cry on her shoulder.

"It okay, it okay, they no hurt you now." Stitchy soothed, "Just let it out."

For a long few minutes, Mandy couldn't do anything other then cry on Stitchy's should, shaking with sobs that racked her whole body. The large girl made no move to push her away, or stop her crying. She simply cradled Mandy in her arms and let her have her cry; ever so often cooing with gentle words the belied her massive, frightening appearance.

When the tears finally stopped, Mandy attempted to stand but instantly felt a sharp jolt of pain and fell back to the ground, gripping her ankle once again and crying out, a little embarrassed that fresh tears now sprung from her eyes. Stitchy was going to the think she did nothing but cry.

It occurred to her that she was suddenly concerned about what Stitchy thought of her.

"You hurt?" Stitchy asked her.

"My ankle." Mandy said through gritted teeth.

Pushing her hands away, Stitchy looked it over; it was bruised and swollen grotesquely. She lightly touched the area with her thick finger, causing Mandy to wince. Information began to flood to her mind, information she had no memory of learning, but which sprang to her brain none the less.

Pursing her lips, Stitchy opinioned, "Bruising and swelling around ankle, slight looseness of joint; look like minor tearing of ligaments. Mandy have grade two sprain; you no walk on this."

"There's a hospital down the street a few blocks from here." Mandy winced, "I just have to find a way to get there."

Stitchy just looked at her with a wide grin creeping across her face.

Back at the Zipperdale house, Jason had dropped by to see Lizzy again and the two of them were busy playing through Bio Zombie Gore Battle's two player mode. Undead moans, bullets shots and sickeningly realistic wet sounds flowed endlessly from the TV set, along with the steady clicking of thumbs on game controllers. Engrossed in horrific violence and gore, Jason and Lizzy looked like they were right at home.

In the same room, Zach had somehow talked Krystal into modeling a much skimpier dress for him. This one was a strapless blue mini dress with an exceedingly short skirt that should every bit leg, curves and cleavage that Zippy and Lizzy had given her. The dress itself didn't belong to Zippy, and it was something of a mystery why Zach had it at all.

Not only had Krystal agreed to wear the dress, but she was letting Zach take pictures of her, eagerly striking poses that were getting sexier and sexier as she obviously began to relish in all the attention, blushing a little bit but without a doubt having a blast. And, truth be told, she did look really good in the outfit.

Zippy was hardly noticing any of that stuff. She kept her eyes firmly glued to the computer screen where a window monitored Stitchy's GPS's location. She was still moving in a strait line towards the store, but Zippy couldn't help but worry, worry some more, and then worry again. She bit her lip, trying to calm herself down, but the thought of her creation all alone out there in the world was driving her nuts.

This was a mistake, she thought bitterly. She should never have let Stitchy go, who knows what could happen to her out there.

She yelped as an unexpected hand dropped on her shoulder. She turned to find her father leaning down looking at her sympathetically.

"You seem a little tense." Jasper Zipperdale commented, making an understatement as usual.

"Yeah." Zippy admitted.

"You're worried about Stitchy, right?" He said sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, I just think it was too soon for her to be out on her own." Zippy said, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Well, I don't think you have too much to worry about. I'll admit, I have no idea how you did this, or what you even did. And I'll admit it all scared the hell out of me yesterday, but you seem to have done some good work here. I know she comes off as naive, but you said yourself that she's got a good head on her shoulders."

"I hope so; I put it on there myself."

"So I think Stitchy can handle a run to the market."

"Yeah, but what if she runs into a mugger or something?"

"A mugger? What mugger in his right mind would try to roll Stitchy? Didn't you say she can probably lift a Buick with her bare hands?"

There was a slight silence, and then they both burst out laughing. Despite that, Zippy kept a wary eye on the computers screen.

She yelped again when her cell phone rang.

Once again, people on the street stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing to stare and gawp at the sight of a mammoth six foot seven girl carrying a much smaller girl on her back piggy back. Stitchy simply ignored them and continued down the street towards the hospital. She could have cared less, she was perfectly happy to simply have proven herself a friend to Mandy. At least, she hoped she had, there was a lingering doubt in her mind that Mandy might still be afraid of her. But, she decided to hope for the best.

Clinging to her large back, Mandy looked at the strange profile of her savior; her mind still somewhat conflicted about her. True, on second glance, Stitchy was not all that scary looking. It was her gargantuan size and the network of stitches that made her look so intimidating, but looking at her now, Mandy realized that she was, in fact, quite pretty. And there was something undeniably charming about her gleefully optimistic view of the world, and enthusiastic curiosity about it.

"A hope I'm not too heavy for you?" Mandy worried; her arms around Stitchy's neck.

"Naw, Stitchy strong." Stitchy assured her, giggling at the suggestion.

After a long pause, Mandy took a deep breath and finally said, "Stitchy, I'm sorry."

"Hmm?" Stitchy asked.

"For treating you like that yesterday." Mandy clarified, "You were just trying to be nice; hell, you're always trying to be nice, and I couldn't get passed the way you look. I treated you like a monster instead of a person, and the guilt's been eating me up ever since. I'm so sorry, Stitchy. I . . . I hope you can forgive me."

Immediately, Stitchy replied, "Sure, Mandy forgiven."

Mandy blinked, "Uh . . . just like that?"

Stitchy nodded, "Mommy explain it to Stitchy: Stitchy different. Stitchy unique; and people scared of things they don't understand."

Mandy was quiet for a second and then said, "Thank you, Stitchy. I . . . I didn't mean to call you ugly; you're definitely not ugly."

Stitchy giggled, "Handsome boy Derek Simpleton no think Stitchy ugly."

"Derek Simpleton?" Mandy asked confused, "You know him?"

Stitchy lowered her voice and whispered to Mandy conspiratorially, a naughty expression on her face, "Stitchy make out with Derek for three hours last night."

"Seriously?" Mandy exclaimed.

"Yep, Derek adore Stitchy." Stitchy proclaimed.

Mandy blushed, giggling, "Omigod, he's gorgeous."

"Yeah, Derek hot." Stitchy agreed and then grimaced, "But he kinda stoopid too."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too."

They continued for a while in silence, and Mandy watched her gargantuan carrier as her head darted this way and that, curiously taking in everything that she saw. The situation was so strange. For all intents and purposes, Stitchy was only one day old. It boggled the mind what had happened in Zippy's basement, how this odd girl was brought to life.

After a bit of time, Mandy asked, "Stitchy . . . what's it like?"

"What what like?" Stitchy asked, "Kissing Handsome Boy Derek?"

Mandy blushed, "No. What's it like . . . being you?"

"What Mandy mean?" Stitchy wondered.

Mandy bit her lip, "You've only been alive for a little over a day. What's it like . . . being new like that? I mean, you're a complete person, not an infant. You have a fully developed brain and body. Obviously I don't remember anything from a day after my birth. What's it like to be completely new to the world, but completely aware and understanding?"

Stitchy pursed her lips, thinking about it before she answered, "It . . . more like waking up with amnesia then being born. Stitchy recognizes everything, but Stitchy have no memory of from where. It like Stitchy read about the world in book, and now she out in it for real for the first time. Stitchy know about it, but experiencing it is different: Everything new, and everything waiting to be experienced. Every object is new lesson, every person is new element, and around every corner is new adventure."

"That sounds scary." Mandy admitted.

"Yeah, it scary." Stitchy nodded, "But it also exciting."

They arrived at the hospital and Stitchy carried Mandy into the emergency ward, setting her down and letting her stand on one foot, leaning against her as they approached the sign in desk. As soon as they were spotted, a doctor and several nurses ran over to them immediately.

It took Stitchy a good ten minutes to convince them that it was Mandy and not her that needed help.

Zachery Zipperdale's powers of persuasion must have been considerable, because he had talked Krystal into modeling a skimpy candy apple red bikini for him. Although Zippy owned plenty of revealing bathing suits (as sensitive as she was about the size of her breasts, Zippy was not really shy about her body), but this wasn't anything from her wardrobe.

Krystal struck sexy pose after sexy pose while Zach snapped away with his camera. She was clearly eating up all the attention, and it was also obvious that she loved the way she looked in the bathing suit. As she moved and twisted, showing off her surgically altered form, Zippy's father had joined his son in ogling her; which caused her mother to roll her eyes in amusement.

Jason and Lizzy now sat together on the couch, Jason's arm around Lizzy's shoulders and Lizzy's hand on his knee. The watched the show, joking with each other a little in ways Zippy hardly ever saw Lizzy do.

"I believe Krystal is now in touch with her inner attention whore." Lizzy quipped dryly.

"Do you have a bikini like that?" Jason asked her.

"No, mine is black." Lizzy replied.

To anyone in the room, it was obvious that Zippy was dreadfully worried. She stared at the computer screen, nervously drumming her fingers on the table.

"Something's wrong." She said, "This is taking too long."

Krystal leaned over, placing her hands on her knees and putting her cleavage forward, "Oh, for crissakes, Zippy. Stitchy called and told us she was taking Mandy to the hospital. Look at the GPS, she's there right now."

"I know, but . . ." Zippy let the words trail off.

What Krystal said made sense, but she couldn't help but think about what Stitchy might encounter out there. Maybe she'd run into people who were drinking, or maybe people who were doing drugs and got her to try it. Then she might become and addict and overdose. Or maybe some guys would jump her and before she knew what was happening they were ravaging her.

After a moment, she realized that someone trying to rape Stitchy would be as illogical as the mugger scenario, but the nightmare image continued to play in her head, even though she knew intellectually that any potential rapist could easily be pounded into mincemeat by one sweep of Stitchy's massive arm.

Turning her back to them, Krystal looked back over her shoulder and winked at Zach and Jasper, pushing her butt out a little and giving a slight giggle. Not only was she starting to enjoy this, but it seemed she was getting good at this. On their couch, Lizzy and Jason began giving scores to each of her poses.

Oblivious to it all, Zippy stared at the screen, franticly anxious.

"Oh, what if I made a mistake?" Zippy moaned, "What if it was too early for her to be on her own? What if she's not ready for the outside world? What if something happens to her?"

Zippy stopped when she noticed her mother looking at her with a bemused and satisfied grin on her face.

"Maddening isn't it?"

Behind a curtain sitting on white hospital gurney, Mandy watched as the young incredibly animated Dr. War Jueng Nueyin bandaged up her ankle. It was the most time she's seen the guy sit still since she'd come in. With a name like that, Mandy would be forgiven for expecting an old man with an accent, but Dr. Neuyin was young, spoke perfect English, and had more energy then a hummingbird on crack. After examining her, he hadn't so much described the problem as he'd sort of acted it out.

Mandy had called home, but found her father out and left a message on the answering machine.

As the doctor finished up his bandaging, Mandy squeezed Stitchy's enormous hand, "I hate hospitals, they always scare me."

"Sound like Mandy get scared lots." Stitchy observed wryly.

"I guess so," Mandy admitted, "You'll stay with me the whole time, right?"

Stitchy nodded, "Sure. Girl Scout's honor."

"When were you ever a girl scout?" Mandy chuckled.

Stitchy shrugged, "Parts of Stitchy probably were."

Running her fingers over Stitchy's wrist, Mandy frowned, looking down at the circle of stitches she was touching. They didn't feel the way she thought they would.

"You're stitches, they're so soft." Mandy observed, "It's like touching velvet."

Stitchy nodded, "Yes, but they strong as steel. You can't cut these with chainsaw. Don't worry, Stitchy all in one piece."

Before they could both laugh at that, a huge commotion distracted them as a crowd of doctors and nurses hurriedly wheeled a gurney into the cubicle next to them. From the sound of things, it looked like there had been a horrible accident.

The next costume Krystal came out with was a sexy maid outfit. She posed and posed some more, really giggling and enjoying herself some more. It was the most laughing and smiling Zippy had ever seen her do. Jason and Lizzy continued to be absorbed in the task of rating her poses.

Her father had gotten into the whole fashion show, cheering and clapping for Krystal, and ignoring the exasperated looks he was getting from his wife. Krystal continued to eat up all the attention, hiking her skirt striking every sexy pose she could think of.

As Zippy kept her vigil at the laptop, wondering all the while why her brother has all these outfits to begin with; a disturbing image of Zach wearing the maid outfit himself flitted across Zippy's mind.

The patient was a young Hispanic girl of maybe twelve or thirteen. She was barely conscious, her lips blue and her body rigid. Thermal heating packs were being applied to her body. Stitchy recognized the symptoms as that hypothermia immediately, more information flowing into her mind with no memories attached to them. She watched as the doctors worked frantically.

"Her parents run a store." One of the nurses explained, "She locked herself in a freezer by accident."

"This isn't working; we need to warm her blood." One doctor, Dr. Johnson said, "If we don't get her temperature down, there could be irreversible brain damage."

The other doctor, Dr. Rodriguez replied, "I know we were supposed to get a machine to do that, did it arrive yet?"

Dr. Johnson nodded grimly, "It arrived, but it's not put together yet. It's sitting on the loading dock. The technician doesn't arrive till Tuesday."

"Goddamn it." Dr. Rodriguez swore, "We have the device to save her, but we can't use it!"

Suddenly, the curtain pulled back and all the assembled gasped as the saw the huge odd form of Stitchy looming over them.

"Kidney dialysis." Stitchy said simply.

"What?" Dr. Johnson asked, not getting it.

"Miss, you can't be here." One of the nurses said attempting, and failing, to push Stitchy back.

"A hemodialysis machine." Stitchy told them, "It have function to warm blood."

Dr. Neuyin looked up from Mandy's ankle, "She's right, it does."

"But it's not enough; it couldn't warm her blood up in time." Dr. Rodriguez said, skeptically.

"You can make it enough." Stitchy insisted, "Where you keep hemodialysis machine?"

"Uh, third floor, in the dialysis ward." Dr. Johnson said uncertainly.

Before anyone could stop her, Stitchy took off running, down the hall. Bypassing the elevators, she threw open the staircase doors and began running up the stairs taking five at a time. Bursting out of the third story door and scaring the beejeezus out of some poor unsuspecting nurse, she quickly looked at the signs and then took off for the dialysis ward as fast as her super strong legs would carry her.

She found the ward empty when she entered, and made a beeline for the nearest room with a machine in it. The rooms had wide rectangular windows looking in on them, so she had no problem locating one. She also found an orderly in there in green scrubs; he looked up when she entered.

"Can I help . . . holy shit!" The orderly exclaimed as he saw her.

Stitchy ran to the hemodialysis machine, "Emergency! Stitchy need this!"

"Hey, wait, you can't just . . ." The orderly began.

His sentence was cut off when Stitchy gripped the machine and effortlessly lifted the 128 lb 5ft tall apparatus off the ground and then hurried out with it and down the hall as if she were simply picking up a bag of laundry. The orderly was about to yell something about not breaking it, but simply fell silent, stunned at what he had just witnessed.

While Stitchy was running frantically, Krystal was dressed in a sexy cat girl outfit, similar to a playboy bunny's outfit, but with cat ears and a tail instead of a bunny ones. Even Melody was joining in on the fun now, clapping her hands and cheering for Krystal, who blushed but reveled in the attention.

"Oh, she's so cute!" Melody squealed.

To a series of astonished stares, Stitchy brought the dialysis machine into the cubicle and set it down gently as if it were no more then a pillow. She then dropped something else in front of it, a large thermal space heater she'd taken from one of the maintenance rooms. With all the effort of tearing a sheet of paper, she pulled housing open and began pulling out wires. Not wanting to get distracted, the doctors continued work on the little girl while casting apprehensive sidelong glances at Stitchy before Dr. Rodriguez, who had studied to be an electrician before entering med school, realized what she was doing.

Stitchy's huge fingers moved with a delicate dexterity that belied their large size as she skillfully began attaching and rewiring the guts of the dialysis machine. Lessons on electronics that she didn't remember flooded her brain; she knew exactly what to do.

"That could work!" Dr. Rodriguez exclaimed, "She rewiring the machine's heating device. If she'd doing what I think she is, that'll make it put out five times the amount of heat."

"We're loosing her." Dr. Johnson grunted, "At this point I'll try anything."

It took the giant Frankengirl only a few seconds to finish up and put the housing back on the machine, it was ready to go.

"It ready!" Stitchy declared, "Quick, insert catheters."

Dr. Johnson looked over at Dr. Rodriguez, "You're sure she knows what she's doing."

Dr. Rodriguez, "Absolutely, this is the best option we have. This could work."

Quickly finding a vein in her leg, Dr. Johnson took the catheter and inserted it with a slight sucking noise. He then took the second one and inserted it in a different vein. Jumping across to the dialysis machine, he turned it on and adjusted the controls. With a whirring hum, the machine began to suck blood out of the little girl and pass it through the filtration systems, cleaning in a way usually reserved for people with bad kidneys who couldn't filter the waste out of their blood on their own.

As the blood passed through the reconfigured heating system, it was warmed speedily before running out of the second catheter and back into the little girl's body.

Dr. Johnson put his hand on the second tube, raising his eyebrows: The tube felt warm and hot. He nodded to Stitchy who stood back, looking over the girl as she lay there unconscious. The doctors continued to work on her, massing her limps and injecting adrenaline. But color was already beginning to flow back into her face.

Mandy had hopped off her bed and was watching; supported by one crutch she had been given. She looked at Stitchy with a proud, reverential expression on her face, which made Stitchy's heart feel warm. Certainly, Mandy was no longer afraid of her. Stitchy crossed over to her and put an affectionate arm around her shoulders.

A nurse crossed over to them, "Her name's Sonora, by the way. And I think you might have just saved her life. That dialysis thing you came up with is working, her blood is warming."

"She be okay?" Stitchy asked, tapping her head to indicate she was worried about brain damage.

"All we can do now is wait." The nurse said.

While this was going on, Zachery Zipperdale's blood was heating up, but in a totally natural way. Krystal was now modeling a sexy space girl outfit he'd given her, mostly made out of leather. It was skimpy with wide open holes that showed plenty of Krystal's skin. It looked like something out of a late sixties or early seventies sci fi flick, corny as all hell, but Krystal was making it look good. Her poses were getting bolder and more erotic.

"This is so much fun!" Krystal giggled.

She began striking poses like she was firing a laser gun, and then swinging an imaginary light saber.

Zippy rolled her eyes; they were deep in the realm of otaku nerdism here. She glanced back at the computer; Stitchy was still at the hospital. What was taking her so long?

Making her way out of the ER and into the waiting room, Stitchy was flanked by Mandy who hobbled beside her on a crutch, her ankle firmly bandaged and held off the floor as she moved. Stitchy could have easily just picked her up with one hand and carried her out, but she thought it might be better for Mandy to get used to the crutch.

As they walked, Stitchy was feeling in a pretty good mood. Mandy would be fine after a little while, and the doctors were confident that little Sonora would come out of this fine as well, although the specter of possible brain damage still loomed, Stitchy's actions had helped keep the threat to a minimum. Stitchy had pestered the doctors until they'd agreed to call her an update her on Sonora's condition.

And best of all, Mandy wasn't afraid of her, anymore. That was a good start.

As they went, Stitchy spotted Dr. Johnson talking to a small Hispanic family, which looked like a mother, a father, a young daughter and a older son. As they got closer, she could hear the conversation, and quickly realized that it was little Sonora's family.

"Only time will tell if there's any permanent damage, but it should be minimal. It all depends on how long she was in that freezer." Dr. Johnson told them, "But it looks now like we got to her in time."

"Thank you, doctor," The sobbing mother cried, "Oh, thank you so much."

Dr. Johnson noticed Stitchy approaching and said, "Well, you actually owe most of your thanks to this young woman here, she was the one who improvised the treatment."

All eyes turned to Stitchy and bulged when then saw her giant stitched together form. Stitchy herself let her jaw drop open when she saw with surprise that the son was the very same Hispanic man who had attacked Mandy in the alley! Mandy saw him and hastily moved behind Stitchy, trembling a little as fear shot back into her. His face was seriously bruised and swollen from the pounding Stitchy had given him. She glared at him, still furious, and he jumped back his eyes widening in fear.

"Ah!" He cried, "Muchacha gigante del diablo!"

His parents shot him nasty glances.

"Just be quiet, Ricardo!" His father snapped, "Where the hell were you when this happened anyway? You were supposed to be watching Sonora. Maybe you should be more like her."

Dr. Johnson explained what had happened and how Stitchy had improvised the treatment that saved her. This was followed by so many tearful thank yous and hugs and crying that Stitchy blushed and started getting embarrassed. She just smiled and let them gush; telling them she just did what she thought she had too. Very quickly whatever trepidations the family might have had about Stitchy's huge odd appearance was replaced by gratitude.

Not everyone was that way, Stitchy noticed. A lot of the other people in the room still eyed her with a little bit of apprehension. She sighed inwardly; her quest to get everyone to accept her was going to take a long time. She also noticed that Ricardo stayed away from the family and didn't approach her. Small wonder, Stitchy reminded herself, after the clobbering she had given him.

After a while, they finally let Stitchy go after she gave them the cell number she had and promised she'd let them do something for her in return. She walked out of the ER with Mandy slowly hobbling along, new patients entering the hospital gasping and staring at her. For the most part, a pleasant smile changed their attitudes, but many of them continued to stare at Stitchy like she was a monster. It was disheartening, but Stitchy had made a friend out of Mandy, and saved a life, so she decided to focus on that.

As the walked out, they suddenly heard footsteps behind them. Stitchy turned and saw Ricardo hurrying over. As soon as she turned, he halted, unsure of whether to continue or not. Mandy hid behind Stitchy once more grasping her waist with both hands, a little moan of fear escaping her mouth. After an awkward silence, he held his arms up in a lame gesture, and then looked down on the ground.

"Uh, thanks . . . for . . . ya know, saving my sister." He mumbled.

Before there was any chance to react to that, there was a loud crash. They all jumped as a small car suddenly and stupidly pulled in front of one of the oncoming ambulances. The ambulance driver had no time to react, and although he tried to swerve, the car collided with him. There was a deafening impact crash and the screaming, grinding sound of metal crumpling as the force of the two vehicles spun them, twisting around with the force of the impact.

The car skidded sideways, directly for the curb. Stitchy's keen, if mismatched, eyes picked it up immediately. On full impulse, she shoved Ricardo out of the way, sending him flying across the sidewalk with one powerful shove of her arm a few seconds before the car jumped the curb. With no time to get out of the way herself, the grill of the Toyota Corolla filled her vision just before there was a screeching deafening crash.

Mandy screamed in horror and shut her eyes and the sparse crowd around her joined her. She squeezed her eyes shut afraid to open then until the crushing crinkling sound of the crash was over. Screams filled her ears on all sides of her, and abruptly stopped. Her heart pounded and ice filled her veins, timidly, she opened her eyes, horrified at what she might see, her stomach a pit of despair. She had just managed to mend her relationship with Stitchy, only to have this happen. She opened her eyes and first noticed a few people standing around staring with their mouths open. With all her willpower, she turned her head and cast her eyes towards the curb.

She soon adopted and expression that was similar: Stitchy stood exactly where she had been before, one arm stretched out in front of her, grasping the front of the Corolla with a gripped hand, the metal of the hood and grill twisted in a spider web pattern around her large fingers. The car was not moving and its elderly driver gripped the wheel with a shocked expression on his face as his car was raised a little in the front, its front two wheels lifted off of the ground.

Stitchy had stopped the car with one hand.

Releasing the grill, Stitchy let the car fall to the ground with a metallic groan, its stunned driver so shaken he hardly noticed. Stitchy stepped back and turned to Ricardo, who still lay on the ground where Stitchy had shoved him. He stared at the huge strange girl who had just saved his life with wide, almost reverential eyes; eyes that viewed the monster girl in a whole new light. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the rest of the crowd who had come to their senses and began to applaud, which had the effect of making Stitchy blush sheepishly.

Mandy ran to her and threw her arms around her neck, "Stitchy, I'm glad you're okay! You scared the life out of me!"

"Aw, Stitchy tough." Stitchy patted her back, "Mandy no worry 'bout Stitchy."

"I thought . . . I thought . . ." Mandy stammered, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

Mandy's father came running over to them, an alarmed look on his face. His chest rose and fell; he had probably run all the way from wherever he parked as soon as he heard the crash.

"Mandy! Mandy! Oh my god! Are you alright?" He grabbed his daughter hugging her tightly.

"I'm fine, Dad." Mandy told him, slightly muffled in his chest, "Stitchy protected me."

Stitchy looked around at the still applauding crowd, and the appreciative smile Mr. Manson was giving her, not to mention the surprised look of gratitude on Ricardo's face and his family's who had come out now and where helping him up. She grinned, still blushing a bit from all the adulation. True, people were still seeing her as monster at first.

But this was a very good start.

After a lot of questions and answers, Mr. Manson drove Stitchy and Mandy back from the hospital, with one quick stop so that Stitchy could finally pick up the groceries that Zippy's mother had wanted, drawing stares from the other shoppers as she cheerfully found each item and brought it to the quivering, cowering teenage girl at the counter. A little bit of pleasant talk, and Stitchy managed to get her to relax a little bit, but the girl still eyed her giant customer with a lot of uneasiness.

As soon as Mr. Manson's car pulled up sin front of the house, the door to Zippy's house burst open and Zippy came running out to them, followed by the somewhat less agitated others. Stitchy had to smile when she saw that Krystal was dressed in the tiger stripe strapless bikini worn by that Lum character from that anime show that Zach had told her about. Zippy came running over to her, her face anxious; grabbing the embarrassed Stitchy and hugging her with all her might.

"Oh my god, Stitchy!" Zippy wailed, "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Don't ever do that to me again."

Stitchy rolled her mismatched eyes, "Stitchy fine, Mommy."

"What took you guys so long?" Lizzy asked; her arm around Jason's waist.

Mandy cut in, gushing with enthusiasm, talking a mile a minute, "Oh, you should have seen it! Stitchy was so cool and badassed and there were these guys that jumped me in an alley, and Stitchy came and kicked their asses then she carried me all the way to the hospital and there was this girl, and Stitchy saved her life by fixing a kidney dialysis machine so it would warm her blood and then there was a car accident and she stopped the car with her bare hands. She was so cool! Did I mention she was cool? Because she was cool!"

Once Mandy finally closed her motor mouth, causing Stitchy to giggle and blush a little with embarrassment, Zippy shook her with alarm.

"There was a car wreck?" Zippy exclaimed, "You didn't tell me about that? Why didn't you call me about that?"

"Well," Stitchy shrugged, "Stitchy no want Mommy to worry more."

"Oh, Stitchy." Zippy moaned, shaking her again, "What if something had happened to you? What if you'd been hurt? What if you'd been killed?"

"Oh, jeeze, Zippy." Her mother cut in, "You sound like you're forty."

Now it was Zippy's turn to blush as the whole group laughed at her unintentional overprotective mother act. Stitchy reached over and pulled her too her, giving her a hug.

The next few days went on without any other incidents, spent mostly running tests and documenting Stitchy's physical and mental abilities. Stitchy spent a lot of time alone with Derek, and when Zippy got suspicious and tried to spy on them, she was thwarted by her mother her pulled her away. While that was going on, Lizzy spent a lot of time with Jason, knowing it was just a fling and making the most of it, and Zach spent all his time still fawning over the increasingly appreciative Krystal. Leaving Zippy to wish she had someone with her as well, her thoughts naturally going back to Kyle.

Soon, the vacation was over, and everyone gathered to say their good byes as the large SUV taxi showed up to take them all back to Madame Petri's, surprisingly driven by Posey the Werx. It was, all in all, a typical good bye session. Melody and Jasper hugged their daughter excessively and told her over and over how proud they were of her. Both Derek and Mandy had turned up to see them off.

Krystal was dressed in the black dress she had first worn for Zach, finding herself rather pleased with the way she looked in it, and finding herself just a little bit more comfortable in her new form. Certainly she adored all the attention Zach gave her, and she was finding she couldn't help but look at her refection when she was dressed like this. A lot of the old resentment had started to fade over this vacation, and Krystal was feeling more and more secure in who she was now.

Lizzy and Jason kissed each other goodbye, so much so they looked like they were going to swallow each other. After a few minutes, the whole group was a little embarrassed.

Inspired a little bit, Stitchy reached down and lifted Derek up off the ground and planted a large deep kiss on his lips, his feet dangling above the sidewalk as they made out. She dropped him to the ground and grinned happily. After that, she gave Mandy a hug and then kissed her for good measure, making everyone turn even redder then they had before.

It wasn't just Stitchy who got inspired, however, and quickly Zack grabbed Krystal and planted a deep passionate kiss on the surprised girl's lips. She made a loud gasp of shock that was smothered by his lips. Krystal struggled a bit at first, trying to pull away, but the kiss woke up something new insider her. It was suddenly like her whole body came alive and began acting on its own. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, she was kissing him back, melting into his arms. When Zack broke the kiss, all Krystal could do was say nothing and flush a deep crimson color. There were a lot of chuckles and Zippy patted her brother on his back, giving his a hug for good measure.

Posey leaned out of the taxi, "Blork."

"Guess it's time to go." Zippy said.

"That's a robot." Mandy said amazed, "There . . . there's a robot driving the taxi."

"You get used to it." Lizzy comment dryly.

"Wicked." Jason said grinning, "She's pretty cool."

"Blork." Posey said appreciatively.

After taking one last group picture together, Stitchy in the back slightly crouching to get in the frame, they all piled into the taxi and began the drive back to Madame Petri's. They all waved out the car at the others as they drove away until they were finally out of site.

Stitchy was excited, babbling away and asking question after question about the school and what it was going to be like. To her, it seemed like a brand new adventure, and she couldn't wait to experience it.

As they made their way, Krystal leaned over and said, "Hey, Zippy. Thanks for giving me the dress. I really do like it."

"No problem," Zippy replied, "It really does look better on you."

Stitchy grinned, "So Stitchy guess that dress had intended effect? How was that kiss Zach gave you?"

Zippy and Lizzy laughed while Krystal blushed and giggled a little her self. For a long time she said nothing, simply turned red and clutched her hands together. It was a bit a of battle with herself, she still couldn't quite make the full acceptance of herself as female.

Finally, she admitted with a smile, "It was pretty nice."

"I am impressed with how far you've come." Lizzy said, as usual betraying no hint of that.

Stitchy grinned wickedly, "Since Krystal smooching boys now, is there someone Krystal like at school?"

Krystal flushed at the question; the fact was, she had been thinking of someone a lot lately, and in ways she never had when she was a guy. But she had no intention, hell felt totally unprepared to tell anyone else about that. Now on the spot, she didn't know how to answer Stitchy's typically brazen question.

She deflected, "What about you, Lizzy? You said yourself this was just a fling with Jason; got anyone at school you're interested in?"

The corners of Lizzy's mouth turned up a little, which nobody but Zippy would recognize as a grin.

"Maybe." She said cryptically.

Zippy didn't pay the intriguing comment any mind. She was too busy, scribbling notes in a large notebook, gathering together all her data in her mind, and trying to decide on the best way to present Stitchy, the holy grail of mad science experiments, to the class.

It would be two weeks later that Jasper Zipperdale would read an interesting article in the morning paper. The story was about a local small time street gang that had seemed to suddenly reform themselves; abandoning their previous gang banging and taking up various community service projects and the like, even working to keep other gangs out of town. It was a bit of mystery, what caused these youth's to turn over a new leaf so rapidly, but it had seemed to happen.

What made the article so interesting was that the group now called themselves "Stitchy's Soldiers".

**Well hello, my little Frankensteins! It's your favorite loveable teacher Miss Piranha, and in the next story, Zippy is finally back at school and has her hands full presenting Stitchy, and dodging Amber's wrath. But she just might be working up the courage for a feat that's a little more personal but just as daunting in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist****, "The Eighth Experiment".**

**Eureka! I've Got it!**


	8. The 8th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Eighth Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

When everyone was in one class or another, it was a rare moment of peace and quiet within normally chaotic halls of Madame Petri's Academy For The Gifted And Eccentric, and that made it the perfect time for Charity Milquetoast to carry out her mission, given to her by Amber Tiffendorf, the leader of her group, which was now unofficially called Amber's Army. And they had all learned fast that it wasn't a good idea to disobey Amber, especially when it came to ways to thwart Zippy Zipperdale and the rest of the Shark Tank Guild as they called themselves. And that was the quest that had Charity cutting class and sneaking around in the hallways like a thief.

It was fairly common knowledge that Amber was livid about Zipperdale; her arrival had been something of a big deal, having received an award from Steven Hawking and such, and although she'd had a rough start, Zippy had quickly proved herself one of the best of all of them. That had ticked off Amber, especially after Zippy had ruined her chances of getting the Bell fortune by turning Cristobel into Krystal. And now that Krystal was an avowed member of the Shark Tank Guild, even wearing the small silver Megalodon tooth pin that the rest of them did, Amber's wrath had reached a boiling point. And now, word was that Zipperdale had come back from break with something extraordinary to show for Mrs. Variola's class, which was sending Amber into twitching fits of rage.

In a way, Charity understood Amber's resentment; she felt a lot of it too. To be frank, Zipperdale was undeserving of all that attention. Certainly, she was beneath Charity's own station: Zipperdale did not come from money, she came from an average middle class family, and she did not come from a family of unrestrained scientists. Not even regular scientists for that matter. It irked Charity that someone of such low origin could achieve so much; so much that was hers by right of birth. She frequently resented the way Zipperdale simply did not know her place. Especially with people like Lizzy Malaria and Rina Matsura, both of notable (if odd in the case of Malaria) scientific families, would hang off Zipperdale's every word.

In any event, The Shark Tank Guild was something of freak show: With Buttercup the sloth girl and Eve the pseudo vampire among their ranks, to say nothing of the mongrel twins, Charity frequently whished they would all just go away and disappear, and to stop offending her aesthetics with their freakishness.

But all the same, she also considered this thievery to be beneath her station. She knew it was below her, and below Amber, to stoop to stealing Zippy's experiments like they had been, but Amber had ordered it, and Charity never went against Amber. Mainly because she was afraid of her and her quick temper, she had gone ahead and did it.

Her, that is, and Amber's other patsy that she used from time to time. Though Charity had no idea what Amber had over him, it must have been substantial to get him to do her bidding like that. Charity had hoped he'd be the one pulled for this job, but it had fallen to her.

Needless to say, Zipperdale had quickly figured it out and now hid her projects exceedingly well, making these trips even more agonizing for Charity. If she got caught, she could easily be expelled or "volunteered" for one of Madam Petri's experiments.

Looking around and making sure she was alone, Charity slipped into the dorm room shared by Zipperdale, Malaria and Bell. She quietly slipped towards Zipperdale's side of the room, looking around her to make sure there were no cameras or listening devices. After Zipperdale had realized Amber was stealing her projects, she had begun setting traps for any potential thieves. And the bitch was damn cleaver about them too, Charity had almost been caught several times, making her resent the Zipperdale girl that much more. Also she kept an eye out for Zipperdale's revolting pet squid; that awful ugly creature she called a pet was a constant annoyance, since Charity was never sure when the damn thing would show up, waving its tentacles and sounding the alarm. Charity had been forced to get a new skirt once when she couldn't get the squid's ink stain out of it.

Still, there was at least one way in which Charity had to give Zipperdale begrudging thanks: Freeing her from Cristobel. True enough, Charity had liked the idea of marrying into the powerful Bell family, and getting the respect and influence due to her by her station. Her own family was rich and powerful, but marrying into the Bell family would have strengthened it quite a bit, and raised her status in the family ten fold. But she really had loathed Cristobel, and his constant derision of her and her gender. It had been at her mother's insistence that she had perused Bell. Now that Cristobel was no longer a path to the Bell estate, she was free to engage her relationship with Rick Millhouse.

Her face grew warm thinking about her new boyfriend. He'd been around a lot, but it was only recently that she had begun to realize that he'd hung around because of her. The interest and attention he'd paid her had been starkly more appealing then Cristobel's indifference, and more and more she'd found herself attracted to him and his earnest devotion. When Cristobel was gone and Krystal was cut off from her fortune, Rick had quickly made his move, and Charity had been perfectly happy to accept it.

Not exactly the Bell family, Rick was still from a rich well off family, so Charity could easily avoid her mother trying to break them up. That was good because Rick made her feel like no other boy she'd ever dated (which wasn't a lot), and his simple presence had become her rock to whether Amber's storms. When she was with Rick she felt like she could do anything, and that was a feeling she never wanted to give up.

Suitcases still sat around the room as break had only been over for one day, and they hadn't seemed to have the time to unpack. Looking around the dorm room, Charity noticed something odd: The fourth bed in the room had some sparse luggage sitting on it. It didn't seem to belong to Zipperdale, Malaria or Bell; did they have a new roommate? If they did, she must be huge because a dress was laid out on the bed and it was enormous.

Charity searched the room thoroughly, frustratingly turning up nothing after several minutes of hunting. Finally, she found something taped to the underside of Zippy's bed: A wide flat wooden box, like a jewelry box. This had to be it. Charity carefully made sure the box wasn't wired to some kind of booby trap and then pulled it out. It took her only a second to jimmy the lock and open the box.

What she found inside was deflating: Just a small scribbled note on a piece of paper. She squinted at it; it was definitely in Zipperdale's handwriting.

It read, "It's not nice to steal, bitch!"

Realizing it was a trap, Charity tried to drop the box but there was sudden explosion of a bright whit light from the container and Charity screamed.

Later on, people stared and pointed at Charity laughing as she walked down the hall, looking dismayed and humiliated. For she now had the word "thief" sunburned across her face in huge red letters.

Looking out at the long rectangular shape of Mrs. Variola's large classroom; Zippy's heart beat fast in her chest. The classroom was shaped basically like a bullet: A long rectangular shape but round at the front end. Designed around displaying projects, the front of the class held a slightly raised stage area where all lessons were carried out. Just in front of the stage area was a long rectangular run; lower then the stage but higher then the floor that ran down the middle of the classroom to the halfway mark, looking very much like a fashion show runway. The students desks were arranged in a horseshoe shape around the runway; three rows of four desks on the right hand side, another three on the left hand side, and then three directly in front of it.

A flat ceiling ran along the top of most of the classroom, but the front of the room had a much higher domed ceiling. The whole room was decorated in such a way that it looked like authentic DaVinci era Florentine architecture. And it was here in this aura of retro design that students leaned Mrs. Variola's lessons on Artificial Life Form Creation; and it was here, that Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal were getting ready to present Stitchy, and stun the class with the Holy Grail of mad science.

Zippy kept one eye on the back row of the room, where she knew Tiffany Pikenbeiler, one of Amber's stooges, was sitting her eyeing her intently. As soon as this was finished, Tiffany would run and tell Amber, and Zippy was sure that would provoke some kind of unpleasant reaction. She would have to be ready for it.

Mrs. Variola often taught lessons moving up and down that long runway, and students got used to repositioning themselves to see her better. She was doing that now, giving a brief introduction of their project, without giving much away. She couldn't really have, because Zippy had kept quiet about what exactly it was she was doing, to avoid thievery. Mrs. Variola hadn't known much more about the details of project then her students did until a few hours before the presentation.

She was an older woman that seemed younger then she was; with a long face and narrow green eyes. She had curly blonde hair that she tied back in a pony tail behind her head. Her face was adorned with very little make up and she wore small oval glasses on her eyes. Her thin, scrawny figure was kept under a long black dress that had probably gone out of style when Wyatt Erp was still alive. She had a stern, no nonsense air about her that was usually intimidating, and was in no way as approachable as Miss Piranha or Miss Gojira, reminding Zippy more of Mr. DeSade, in her way.

She spoke with slight Scottish accent, "And now, Miss. Zipperdale, Miss. Malaria, and Miss Bell will present the fruits of their labors. They all worked hard, even sacrificing their break to work on their project, so give then all your full attention.

"Miss Zipperdale, you may proceed."

Feeling more nervous and more excited then she had since Stitchy's initial creation; Zippy stepped up and began to talk. Never being one to shy away from a touch of the dramatic, Zippy began her speech.

"What you are about to see today," She began, "Is the culmination of a radical project using the combined talents of myself, Lizzy and Krystal, as we stood on the shoulders of giants such as Frankenstein, Jekyll, Manchu and Mabuse. Using the best equipment available, and the best material we could lay our hands on, we embarked on an experiment that would revolutionize unrestrained science as we know it:

"The successful assembly, construction, and reanimation of a new human being from superior preserved dead body parts."

She paused for dramatic effect, and was not disappointed with the drama: A ripple of gasps flowed through the room as students looked at each other in amazement, wondering if it could be possible, could they really have pulled this off. Tiffany was staring at Zippy with mix of surprise and anger. Zippy let the excitement settle down before continuing. She picked up a small remote control, and dimmed the lights while lowering a screen. A slide projector installed in the ceiling came on with the familiar click, and the slide and video show began, detailing every step of Stitchy's creation process. Zippy had set the show to an old song called Eye Of The Tiger, somehow finding it appropriate.

As the footage progressed, Krystal noticed that Tiffany pulled out her cell phone and began punching numbers. She didn't get far, since Krystal wasn't the only one who noticed. With a quick, sure movement, Mrs. Variola snatched the phone out of her hands and hissed at her to pay attention.

The other students watched as the video showed every step of the process, mumbling amongst themselves. Even Mrs. Variola stared at the screen in awe; and she had already seen both the video and Stitchy. The video clips and photos continued to play, documenting every step of the process. Once the information was finished, and everyone understood the project, the lights came up, and the class remained in hushed, astonished silence.

A little smile appeared on Zippy's face as she gauged their reactions. She then folded her hands in front of her after rearranging her glasses; all calculated theatrics on her part.

She then announced, "And now, for your intellectual pleasure, I'd like you all to meet our creation. We call her Stitchy."

The door in the back opened and Stitchy strolled on stage, throwing her arms up above her head like a star athlete and strutting like a supermodel. Everyone gasped at the gigantic size of the girl, more then a little apprehensive, especially since they'd been informed in the slide show of her accented strength. Zippy had to giggle: All she'd asked Stitchy to do was walk out on stage, but Stitchy liked attention so it was a given that she'd milk this as much as she could. She even did a few dance steps and twirls as she reached the runway, walking down it to the end and turning, again like a runway model. Students chuckled watching her gleeful performance.

For reasons of display, Stitchy was dressed in a bathing suit, a bikini that was as revealing as anything Krystal had tried on back at Zippy's house. Stitchy was rather proud of the garment, never having had a shy bone in her body since her 'birth', since it had taken a little bit of work to find one in her gigantic size. As sexy as it was, they'd picked it to better reveal the assembly work to the class.

Stitchy got back to the stage and announce proudly, "I Stitchy! Hello everyone!"

After the shocked silence finally broke, there was a round of applause. From everyone, Krystal noticed, except Tiffany. Krystal gritted her teeth; they had worked really hard on the creation of Stitchy, the least the bitch could do was show a little appreciation. A sinking feeling a remorse flooded her as she realized she used to be just like her. Unbelievable, how much her perspective had altered.

Step by step, Zippy took Stitchy through her paces, starting with simple movement and coordination, graduating to demonstrating her astonishing strength and reflexes, then moving on to her augmented sight and hearing. The last batch of demonstrations was all mental, wowing the class with Stitchy's ability to solve complex math problems in her head and her practically photographic memory. The students were even impressed when Stitchy solved a Rubix Cube in under a minute.

Once the presentation was finished, the room filled with thunderous applause as students rushed to the stage to get a closer look; mostly, Zippy noticed, the male students. Once the fervor died down, they began taking questions. Zippy was a little surprised to notice that the bulk of the questions were directed at Stitchy rather then the rest, but then decided that really was inevitable, since Stitchy was the object of curiosity here. Stictchy gleefully answered all the questions that were aimed at her.

At one point, Caleb Murphy asked, "Do you're various parts . . . feel different from each other at all. You know, from your point of view."

Stitchy thought about it a second, before answering, "No, it all a part of Stitchy. But it hard to answer that question; Stitchy never be any other way then Stitchy is now, so Stitchy have nothing to compare it to."

"Why does it talk like that?" Tiffany wanted to know.

Zippy was not blind to the fact that Tiffany had snidely referred to Stitchy as 'it' and not 'she'. She grimaced a little, but answered the question anyways.

"We don't really know, not for certain," She said levelly, "But scans have shown some unusual electrical fluctuation in the Broca's Center of her brain. Research has shown since 1865 that people with damage to that part of the brain lost the ability to speak, but could still think. We believe that is the cause of Stitchy's unusual speech patterns. But what causes those fluctuations we can't say."

"So you're creation is brain damaged?" Tiffany chuckled callously

"I'll brain damage her in second." Lizzy muttered.

Taking a deep breath, Zippy answered, "No. There are no cognitive deficiencies at all that we can determine. As far as tests have shown, all of Stitchy's mental functions are not only normal, but far above average."

She narrowed here eyes at Tiffany, "Maybe you'd like to come up here and try to do some of the math Stitchy did in your head?"

When Tiffany didn't move, the whole class laughed at her, and she cast her eyes down at her desk furiously. Caleb started to ask another question but they were out of time, and Mrs. Variola interrupted him.

"Well, I hope you all enjoyed the presentation. High marks go to all three of our students here. We deliberated for a while on how to best handle Stitchy. But after seeing first hand her mental ability, and in the interest of further study, we have decided to admit Stitchy as a student at Madame Petri's. After all, you don't want to waste a life you've been given."

Stitchy clapped her hands together excitedly, and even Zippy was a little amazed that the matter was decided so quickly. She had thought she would have make a strong case and fight for Stitchy's admittance. But Petri's valued intelligence, as well as having a rather shallow desire for students of fame and notoriety, which a unique girl like Stitchy was likely to bring. Whatever the cause, Zippy was feeling a glowing sense of pride that her creation would be attending classes at Petri's.

Within a couple of hours, word about Stitchy was all over the school. Naturally, Petri's had a large female population, and the fastest means of communication are telephone, telegraph and tell a girl. But this was the sort of news that spread fast over a unisex network, and pretty soon it was the only thing anyone could talk about and the whole school was bursting with excitement over Zippy, Lizzy and Krystal's accomplishment.

All that is, except for Amber, who was livid that Zippy was now the top student in the school, in spite of all her efforts.

Krystal moved down the hallway, unable to contain her excitement at their success. Stitchy had been accepted more then she'd dreamed possible and unrestrained science had taken another leap forward. And she had been a part of that; sure, it had all been Zippy's idea, but if Zippy was Neil Armstrong, then Krystal could securely feel like a fine Buzz Aldrin. And there was nothing wrong with that; she still felt like a piece of history.

As she rounded a corner she passed Mr. DeSade's classroom. She could hear him talking to someone inside the room, and he didn't sound too happy. The hair on the back of Krystal's neck stood up as she recognized Mr. Innsmouth's voice. After all this time, the vice principle still gave her the creeps, no matter what. A little curious, she listened to what they were saying.

"I'm telling you, I didn't misplace it." Mr. DeSade grumbled, "The materials where right where they were supposed to be the last time I used them. Someone has been stealing my genetic material."

"That seems to be a rather strong accusation, Mr. DeSade." Mr. Innsmouth replied coldly, "What proof do you have that they were stolen?"

"Well it wasn't the sort of material that could get up and walk away on its own; I keep all of that stuff locked up in the freezer unit."

"Oh I see."

"Aren't you the least bit concerned? What was taken could easily be very dangerous."

"Everything worth knowing is dangerous."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Calm yourself, François. I'm sure your work will be unaffected."

And with that, a seemingly unconcerned Mr. Innsmouth turned and abruptly left the class room, turning his back on a baffled and frustrated looking Mr. DeSade, who shook his head in disbelief. Krystal frowned; it seemed rather dangerous to be stealing material from DeSade's class. Who in the world would do that, and why didn't the Vice Principle care?

Krystal's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a voice she liked hearing a whole lot better then Innsmouth's.

"Hey, Krystal." Kevin Crowsfeet said coming towards her.

"Kevin! Hello!" Krystal said enthusiastically as her best friend approached her.

As he got closer Krystal felt her heart quicken a little and her face flush a bit. She always got excited by the presence of Kevin, the one person who had stood by her through everything, remained her friend despite her past and what had happened to her. As a boy she had somewhat taken his friendship for granted, but now it had become clear that Kevin was the only true friend she had. Everyone else had only been interested in the money, now that she'd been cut off from that; she discovered that Kevin was the only one to stick by her. She valued his friendship and presence more everyday, even going so far to call him from Zippy's house everyday over break. She had teased him a little with the project they were working on, piping his interest without letting him know what they were doing.

He jogged up to her excitedly, and Krystal felt her pulse quicken the closer he got.

"I just heard about your project." He said almost breathlessly, "Did you really do it, create a new life?"

Krystal nodded, "You bet. And she's been enrolled here, so you'll meet Stitchy soon enough. Really nice girl, actually."

"'Stitchy'?" He raised an eyebrow, "That's really what you named her?"

"She's got a ton of them. Anyways, she picked the name herself."

"You know, you're right, I can't wait to meet her." He paused and then continued, "That's was why you weren't at breakfast this morning?"

"Yeah, there was too much preparation to do. Why did I miss something?"

"Another 'volunteer'."

"You're kidding, who was it?"

"Ricky Salazar."

Krystal knitted her brow, her face darkening. It seemed more and more 'volunteers' were being recruited for Madame Petri's private experiments. The results were often almost horrific. A shiver went down her spine, even though she knew her grades were good enough to stay out of her clutches. Still, whatever the hell Madame Petri was doing in there, no one seemed to know what it was. Most of them had never even seen her.

Petri's could be a scary place, and everyone knew the importance of making alliances, friends who could watch your back. Without them, you could find yourself kidnapped and subjected to who knows what sort of experiment. It was the reality of their fringe science school, and simply a part of the process, as horrifying as it may have sounded to outsiders. Krystal realized she was quite lucky; event though she had lost most of her friends when he gender was reassigned and she lost her claim to the Bell fortune, she had made plenty of new ones; as difficult as that had been. She now knew that Zippy and the others would watch her back, and she felt the same protective need towards them. And then there was . . .

She looked at Kevin, another swell of affection filling her breast.

"Kevin . . . thank you." She said.

"Huh?" Kevin replied, "For what?"

"For sticking by me all this time. For not abandoning me like the others. And for putting up with me, I know I was pretty obnoxious. I realize that now. Thank you for that."

Kevin smiled and put an arm on her shoulder, she felt her face go hot at the contact. What in the world was happening to her?

"It's like I said," Kevin told her soothingly, "I always knew there was much more to you then what you presented. And it's been my privilege to know that better you before anyone else did."

For one split second, Krystal actually thought she was going to cry, an almost euphoric feeling of happiness surging in her. Instead, she suddenly through her arms around Kevin and hugged him tightly, pulling herself close to him. He hugged her back; it only last a brief second, but to Krystal it seemed like an hour, and she wanted it to go on for an eternity.

Kevin finally let her go and headed off to class, waving good bye and disappeared down the hall, leaving Krystal standing by herself. Her face was flushed with heat and her heart hammered in her chest. It was a perplexing feeling of excitement, one that seemed to be getting stronger and stronger every time she was with Kevin. A lot of emotions that had never really reared their head before had found their way prominently into her make up since her transformation: Things like compassion, loyalty, friendship; but the emotions that seized her in Kevin's presence were a bit confusing. She pondered it, and all at once, all the pieced came together. Suddenly, all at once, she understood the emotions that flooded her in his presence.

No, no, no, no, this couldn't be true. It shouldn't be true; it was impossible. She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide. This wasn't right, this shouldn't be happening at all. She had to be mistaken; she absolutely had to be mistaken. She was still new to her body; it had to be something else. I just wasn't possible, it wasn't possible at all. It wasn't true.

Except it was: She was in love with Kevin.

The realization sent her thoughts spinning like an out of control kaleidoscope: Questions with no clear answers danced in her brain, coming and going with electric rapidity. Could she pursue these feelings, should she ignore them, could she ignore them, did he feel anything for her . . . they surged in her in a mishmash of uncertainty and bewilderment. Suddenly, just as soon as she'd accepted herself, her whole world was being turned upside down again. How had this crept up on her; how long had she felt this way about him? With sinking feeling, she realized she had started feeling this way on her first day as a girl; when Kevin had sat down and consoled her when no one else would. From that very moment, she had fallen hopelessly in love with him, and she had just been too blind to see it.

The comprehension made her feel perplexed and confused, but also a little bit excited.

Zippy grinned as Stitchy stepped out of Mrs. Variola's office proudly dressed in her new school uniform. Due to her massive size, the Werx had been forced to create some originals for her, but they had done their work well and the uniform fit like a glove. Stitchy twirled a little displaying it.

The Werx still fascinated Zippy: Most of them were pretty much the same, and all behaved the same way, running the preprogrammed duties unanimously. Most of the Werx were all activated and controlled by a wireless network called The Feed where they received most of their instructions and program updates. But certain Werx, like Vixen and Gortcha, were unique and functioned without The Feed, operating on their own.

The oddest one was Posey, who was apparently supposed to be a normal Werx, but for some reason operated independently.

"What think, Mom?" Stitch said, "Stitchy look cute?"

"Very cute, Stitchy, very cute." Zippy clapped her hands, there was always something endearing about Stitchy's rampant enthusiasm.

In the interest of continued study, Stitchy had been assigned, not surprisingly, to the remaining bed in Zippy's dorm room, which suited the amiable frankengirl just fine.

"Stitchy glad she here," The big girl commented thoughtfully, "Stitchy happy for life mom give her, Stitchy not want to waste one second of it."

While Mrs. Variola led Stitchy off to be signed in with Mr. Innsmouth, Zippy headed off to her next class, though it was likely to be somewhat less exciting then the previous one. She quickly made her way down the hall, noticing the stares and whispers and the occasional holler of congratulations as she went on her way. With an accomplishment like Stitchy, she was suddenly the most interesting student in the school. In a lot of ways, she was basking in all the attention, letting it boost her ego considerably, but on the other hand, if felt like everyone was staring at her all the time. She'd gotten a little used to that since she came here, but now it was a near constant thing that got on her nerves a little bit.

And she knew there was Amber to contend with; she wouldn't take an upstaging like this sitting down. She would be out to event he score, and they would need to be ready for that. Indeed, Zippy had noticed Charity hiding the burned results of her trap by letting her hair fall over her face earlier in the day; so it had turned out to be a wise move to let Mrs. Variola hang on to all her notes and files until the presentation. She would have loved to have seen Charity's face when that trap went off, however.

Zippy fingered the small silver shark's tooth pin on her collar. All the members of The Shark Tank Guild were wearing them since they got back from break. Rina had made them up over her vacation; they were based on one of Megan's actual teeth, which the shark had graciously let Rina have. Like all other sharks, Megan went through a lot of teeth, dropping old ones and growing new ones over and over. She would probably go through twenty thousand teeth in her lifetime, so she had no qualms about giving out the old ones to people as gifts, telling Mr. Carcharias who to deliver them too after they were picked up by Werx from the bottom of her tank. Zippy had a massive seven and a half inch one herself decorating her desk.

After a while of this, she felt like she really wanted to get somewhere where there weren't any people. Maybe later she could stop by Megan's tank? The thought was interrupted when Zippy saw someone she did want to talk to making his way towards her: Kyle.

She hadn't had a chance to talk to her crush since she'd gotten back, and obviously hadn't seen him at all over break. As soon as she saw him her face flushed and her heart hammered in her chest, and all the old nervousness seemed to be flooding back to her. For a horrible second, Zippy thought the old brain shutdown she used to experience in Kyle's presence was going to rear its empty head again. And then, she took a deep breath and focused.

She noticed he was wearing the tooth pin himself. She grinned; Kyle wasn't an official member of the Guild just yet, but he was friendly and supportive to them, so Zippy had insisted he get a pin as well.

Kyle smiled, excited as the rest of them as he jogged up to her, "Zippy! Welcome back."

Zippy returned his smile, "Kyle, hi, it's nice to see you again."

She hoped that didn't sound too desperate, like she'd been waiting to see him; even though the really had been.

He stopped in front of her, "I just heard, is it true? Did you really create your own human life form?"

Zippy nodded, "Six foot seven of her."

Kyle grinned, "I heard about that too; that she's really big."

"Everything had to be large to make the reagent flow correctly. So far, Stitchy doesn't really seem to mind."

"'Stitchy'? That's really what you called her?"

"She picked it out herself. Well, she got it from Lizzy's boy toy, but somehow it stuck. I know it sounds lame; it's just 'stitch' with a 'y' on the end of it, but she seems to like it. She proudly announces her name when you ask her, so I guess it's all right."

"Wait, wait, wait." Kyle held his hands up, "Be kind, rewind . . . Lizzy has a boy toy?"

Zippy couldn't help but giggle, "Yeah, she hooked up with my neighbor Jason."

"Lizzy MALARIA?"

"Hey, she's got all the same drives you and I have. She may be odd, but she's still a woman. Anyways, if you think that's weird; Stitchy hooked up with my other neighbor Darren. Same day she came to life, too."

"She didn't waste any time. Crist . . . er . . . Krystal didn't get with anyone did she?"

"Well, my brother developed this massive crush on her. He followed her around, gave her clothes to wear. Even kissed her before we left; I think she really dug all the attention."

"Wow, did he know she used to be a guy."

"I don't think he cared."

"Damn, it's like you guys had you own soap opera going on over break. I just went to Disneyworld."

They both laughed, but truth be told, Zippy was feeling awkward. All the talk of kissing and hooking up was starting to excite her, and her heart was thumping faster the longer she spent with Kyle. She had an urge, a strong urge, to just ask him out and be done with it, but she couldn't bring herself to. I was a completely foreign feeling to Zippy, who had always been very confident about boys. She had never before had any trouble going after a boy she liked before; she'd flirt and bat her eyes an wiggle her body and if he didn't ask her out, well she'd just go ahead and ask him. For some reason, she was petrified of doing that with Kyle: she worried about him saying no. No, more then that, she worried about him being offended or angry at the suggestion. It was stupid, there was no reason to think he would, but the emotion persisted, over riding Zippy's usually romantic confidence.

"Well, I gotta get to class." Kyle was saying, awakening Zippy from her thoughts, "Lets hang out later, I'd love to hear more about your vacation."

Zippy scolded herself, she'd drifted and lost track of their conversation. Kyle must think she was a complete space cadet. She was burning to say something to him before he left, but the words wouldn't come. He started to turn away, and Zippy's heart sank; she was going to let another opportunity pass her by.

Suddenly, Mrs. Variola's voice popped into Zippy's head: _After all, you don't want to waste a life you've been given. _

And then Stitchy's: _Stitchy happy for life mom give her, Stitchy not want to waste one second of it_

"Kyle!" Zippy called on full impulse.

He turned around, "Yeah."

"Wouldyouliketogotothemanhattanprojectwithme?" Zippy blurted out.

Not unreasonably, Kyle replied, "Huh?"

Zippy took a deep breath and spoke again, her ears burning and her heart pounding so hard she thought she might have a coronary at any minute.

"Would you like to go to The Manhattan Project with me?"

Kyle raised an eyebrow, "The Manhattan Project?"

Pausing to collect her frayed nerves, Zippy replied, "Yeah, you and me, at The Manhattan Project. Together . . . like a date."

She sighed and finally said it, "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

There was a long, agonizing pause which probably only lasted a second or two but felt like an eternity to Zippy as she waited for Kyle's answer. For a horrible instant, she was sure he was going to say no or the dreaded 'lets be friends' . . . or even worse, start laughing or making gagging noises or both. Zippy gripped her hands together so tight she probably cracked a few of her knuckles.

And then, Kyle smiled. Zippy felt a wave of relief and excitement was over her like an Indonesian tsunami.

"Sure!" Kyle said smiling, "I'd love to."

Zippy felt her heart skip a beat as Kyle became visibly excited by the idea. This was too good to be true; all she could do was giggle as release of nervous energy. She felt her face get hot and realized she was blushing.

"Great." Was all she said.

Kyle exhaled running a hand through his hair, "Man, I wanted to ask you out for so long, but I never really thought you were interested."

"Seriously?" Zippy almost gaped, "You never noticed?"

Whoa, ease down there, Zippy, she chided herself, you don't want to drive him away by making him feel stupid or something. Don't sabotage the chance before you even have it.

"I mean," She corrected herself, "I wasn't sure if I was sending the right signals or not?"

"I thought you might be interested, but I was never sure." He said, "I guess I'm kind of a coward, I didn't want to take the initiative."

They both silently blushed, staring at each other. Kyle finally broke the silence.

"So . . . eight o'clock, at The Manhattan Project?" He said, nervously dodging that.

"I'll be there!" Zippy declared joyously.

They said their goodbyes and then hurried off to class in different directions. Zippy practically ran down the hall, she was so elated. This was too good to be true; after all this time, after all the stupid things she'd done and said, she finally had a real honest to goodness date with Kyle. She felt like she was going to practically float down the hall, she was so getting and excited. And Kyle liked her, had liked her for a while, it sounded like. This could really be the start of something.

Zippy had never had a crush like this one before. Oh, sure, she'd been with boys that really pushed all her buttons, but never one that made her feel like this, like his mere presence was a elixir that she got drunk on. And now, she had finally, after so many failed attempts, gotten a date with him. Zippy felt goose bumps all over her body, and butterflies made their presence known in her stomach.

She had to tell somebody, she had to tell anybody and share this; her excitement felt like it was bottled up inside her so strong that she might burst. She spotted Nadjia Farrell and Lorne Vasectomy walking down the hall together, and ran up to the shouting out the news with so much gusto that she actually scared the crap out of them.

Waiting by the class, Lizzy Malaria looked at her watch and frowned: Class was almost ready to start, and Zippy hadn't shown up. In the whole time she'd been her room mate, Lizzy had hardly seen Zippy be late for anything. She wondered if something could be wrong.

Finally, she spotted her friend coming towards her down the hall. Again, Lizzy knitted her brow in surprise.

Was she . . . dancing?

Cringing as the torrent of rage exploded at her, Charity clutched her hands together as Amber tore into her with enraged irritation. They were in Amber's dorm room, and Charity was seated in a chair Amber had shoved her in. She looked up at her, the word 'thief' still burned on her face. She felt her hands tremble a little as she sat there, taking Amber's ire like she usually did. Amber had been upset before, but now that Zipperdale's experiment had been revealed, she was positively furious and fuming at Charity's failure. Amber's rages, and her ability to make life miserable for people, frightened Charity to no end. So she kept her mouth shut as Amber's torrent spilled out of her lips, her usually pretty face crumpled with lines of rage.

"How can you be so incompetent?" Amber screamed, "I sent you on a simple job; find out what Zipperdale was working on. How could you screw that up? How could you not see a seven foot monster covered in stitches, you moron? Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me."

Afraid to, Charity still felt she had to say something, "It wasn't in the room when I looked; just its clothes, and I told you about that. Zipperdale didn't have any notes or anything lying around in her room. She must have kept them somewhere else."

"Then you should have found out where!" Amber screeched, undeterred, "Instead of falling into one of Zipperdale's sleazy traps like a complete retard."

Charity cringed but didn't answer.

Amber went on, "You know you have to be careful of that devious little twerp. Remember what she did to Cristobel? What if she caught you and turned you into a guy? Would Rick like you so much then?"

That had stung; somehow, Amber had found Charity's particular secret fear of late: That something might happen to her, she might be changed somehow, or maybe Rick would just learn something about her he didn't like and dump her. The thought actually terrified her, she'd come to depend on Rick for so much support lately. Amber seemed to have an unconscious knack for finding stuff like that.

Feeling tears starting to well up in her eye, Charity resisted the urge to wipe them away.

Amber leaned over with another disdainful sneer, "Gonna cry, Charity? Hell, I'm the one who should be crying! We could have stopped this, would could have sabotaged it and then done one of our own and showed up that prissy little bitch, but now . . . "

Abruptly, Amber stopped, her face slacking and the anger suddenly draining out. She stared at Charity, right into her eyes. Slowly, a thin smile appeared across her face. Charity shivered, what in the world was she looking at? For a split second, Amber resembled a wolverine or a ferret with that sly, conniving grin.

"Well, maybe I'm being too hard on you." Amber said, "After all, Zipperdale has outsmarted all of us in the past. You can go; we'll decide what to do about this later."

Thankful to be out of the room, Charity got up and left, casting apprehensive glances at Amber and her suddenly smug, self-satisfied expression. The sudden change in her demeanor creeped Charity out to no end. What had Amber seen that had changed her attitude so much?

Charity found Rick waiting just down the hall.

When he saw her he asked, "How'd it go?"

Looking at Charity's tearful eyes, he said, "That bad, huh?"

Charity threw her arms around him sagged her head against his shoulder. Rick hugged her and held her until she lifted her head. He kissed her affectionately, running his hands over her back. When they broke the kiss, he looked into her eyes, and then frowned.

"Did you get new contacts?" He asked her.

"What?" Charity asked, perplexed, "No? Why?"

"Your eyes have changed color."

Standing in the dark cold book laden office of the Vice Principle, Stitchy looked down at him with a bit of a shudder. Her mom had mentioned something about him being creepy, but that was apparently a severe understatement: Just being in the same room with him gave Stitchy the chills. His cold demeanor and piercing stare seemed to look right into her, almost unnervingly like he knew what she was thinking. He stared at her, appraisingly, looking her up and down. Stitchy was usually okay with being stared at; after all, she was unique and people liked to take a look at her. Stitchy generally liked the attention, but this was different. She did not like the way Mr. Innsmouth stared at her, as if he was ready to dissect her at any moment.

"Well, I must confess, you make for a most interesting conundrum, Miss . . . Stitchy? Or shall I call you Miss Zipperdale, after your creator?" He said in his sinister low voice.

"Uh . . . Stitchy fine." Stitchy said, hoping to keep some of the fear out of her voice.

He snorted, "A ridiculous childlike name, but to each their own. You mark the first time a student's project has ever enrolled in the school."

Being one of a kind, that went without saying.

He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her, "I'll be blunt, I initially opposed your enrollment in the school. But the teachers have been adamant that it was a good idea, and that much can be learned from your interactions and development in an educational setting. I am not one hundred percent sold, but your mental ability far exceeds the minimum requirement for enrollment. So I have been persuaded to give you a chance, as you are a most intriguing subject."

He paused, and then narrowed his eyes at her, "It would be wise, therefore, not to disappoint me."

"No, sir!" Stitchy said, hoping it came out less nervous then it felt, "Stitchy give her best."

Mr. Innsmouth seemed to soften a bit, "You can do great things here, Stitchy. And make no mistake . . ."

As the Vice Principle began the same speech that he had given to Zippy on her first day, Stitchy found her eyes drawn to the idol on his desk. There was something unforgiving and grotesque about the carving, which depicted bulbous, wretched amalgam of a human, a fish, and an octopus. The statue was ugly, that was for sure, but there was something even more disquieting about it; some sinister sense of menace that seemed to ooze from the relief. It sent more shivers down Stitchy's admittedly large spine then Mr. Innsmouth himself did.

Her attention was suddenly snapped back by Innsmouth standing up at his desk and turning his back to her.

"You may go now, feel free to explore the school." He told her, "We expect you at dinner in the dining hall at six o'clock. Good day, Stitchy. I hope you don't disappoint us."

Without a word, Stitchy turned and walked out of the room. The further she got from the Vice Principle's office, the more relaxed she felt. But her mind kept turning back to that horrid little idol: What in the world had been so frightening about it? She couldn't put her stitched on finger on it.

But hours later it still bothered her.

The shimmering lights of the reflected water that bathed the walls outside of Megan the megalodon's colossal tank were always a relaxing stimulation. Zippy often thought that was why they had chosen to center their meetings around the tank, and eventually naming themselves the Shark Tank Guild. There was something almost ethereal about the shimmers of blue that bathed the long hallway where they sat, and the endless blue of the water seen through one of the massive viewing windows. The underground tank was so huge you couldn't see the other side of it. Sometimes it felt like they were really under the sea themselves.

Right now, however, the mood was more excited then relaxed. Zippy sat on the floor, her back to the tank window, with Jetson her talking pet Humboldt squid in her lap. She was flanked on either side by Lizzy on her right and Krystal on her left. They all chatted animatedly while Megan floated lazily behind them, listening with interest to their conversation.

Megan was an impressive sight no matter how many times you saw her: sixty feet long and weighing in at 115 tons, she was shaped like an overgrown Great White Shark, more or less, but her body coloring was deep greenish grey similar to a Greenland Shark, and her back was decorated with dark stripes similar to but more pronounced then the Tiger Shark. Her huge head filled the large viewing window, her speech implant visible on the top of her head between her eyes. For Megan was not the fifty million year old predator that had livid in late Oligocene epoch and Neocene period, but rather a genetically engineered mutation with intelligence in excess of a Dolphin or Orca. And the implant allowed her to talk, and carry on conversations.

The swell of Megan's pregnant belly was much more pronounced now, and she was due to give birth pretty soon. Ultrasounds had revealed that she was carrying twins. It might have been Zippy's imagination, but she could swear Megan looked more motherly today.

And, despite her fearsome appearance, Megan and her mate Morgan were perfectly friendly.

The topic of conversation, naturally: Zippy's success at finally getting a date with Kyle.

The normally reserved Zippy was babbling a mile a minute, "I couldn't believe it, I mean, I was there, he was there, and I just really thought I was gonna freeze up and say nothing like I always do and then . . . I just blurted it out. I asked him out and he said yes!"

"After all this time, I'm glad he actually said yes." Lizzy commented dryly as usual.

"Oh! Oh!" Zippy chirped excitedly, "He didn't just say yes, he got excited. No, he got really excited. I really think he actually likes me! I can't believe I didn't notice, but he was all happy to finally get a date with me. God, when I think of all the time I wasted just because I couldn't get my courage up."

"It seems kind of embarrassing to ask someone out." Krystal observed, thinking about it.

"Yeah, I guess, but usually not for me." Zippy replied, "I mean, I've always been pretty assertive about this kind of thing, but . . . I don't know, something about Kyle flipped a switch off in my brain. I just . . . froze up every time I talked to him."

Krystal chuckled, "Yeah, I've heard some of the stories."

"Man, it just feels so good to finally make this happen." Zippy giggled, "I mean, I'm just completely pumped right now."

As Zippy continued to talk, Krystal looked at her. Zippy was about as happy as she'd ever seen her, animated and practically ready to start glowing any second now. Krystal bit her lip, feeling a jumble of jealousy rising up in her stomach; Zippy looked so animated and so joyful, and Krystal realized she wanted that feeling for herself. More to the point, she wanted that feeling for her and Kevin.

She had thought about mentioning her infatuation with him to Zippy or Lizzy, but she hadn't known how to breach the subject. She was still blocked by the fact that she used to be a boy, and it was something she naturally had a good deal of trouble letting go of, so even though she realized that she was in love with Kevin, it was hard to accept it totally; as much as part of her wanted to. Admitting fully to herself that she was in love with Kevin meant accepting herself as a girl, and she still couldn't quite do that completely yet; despite the clothes and the make up and fussing over her hair. So she had kept her feelings quietly hidden and watched Zippy's joy with festering envy, and slight heartache. She doubted she could ever have a moment with Kevin like this.

Moving her monstrous triangular head closer to the window, Megan spoke with her implant, her high cutesy voice always at odds with the mouth full of steak knife sized teeth.

"I'm happy for you, Zippy," She said moving her fins slightly, "It seems that your very cheerful about this. I don't really understand this 'dating' thing that humans do, but I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"Dating is much too complicated to explain properly." Lizzy told her, patting the tank reassuringly.

Sitting in Zippy's lap, Jetson fumed with anger. How dare that pink monkey Kyle come in and try to steal Zippy from him. He turned a deep red color, clinging to Zippy tighter. She was so enthralled with her upcoming date that she didn't even seem to notice. Jetson tried to calm himself down, exhaling out of his funnel; he liked seeing zippy happy, but he didn't like her being happy because of some other male. He said nothing, continuing to simmer in his jealousy.

"Jeeze, I don't even know what I'm gonna wear." Zippy realized.

In spite of her jealousy, Krystal nudged her with her elbow, "Don't worry, we'll all help you pick out something good, right Lizzy?"

"Of course." Lizzy said.

Krystal smiled a little; she had come to enjoy girl talk surprisingly easily, and now she found that she cherished these moments with just the girls. An idea came to her; maybe they should all plan some kind of activity together: A girl's night out? The idea excited her and sounded like a lot of fun. Her thoughts were interrupted by Megan.

"Oh," Megan said, "This dating thing is always so interesting."

Zippy rolled her eyes, "How interesting can our girl talk be."

"You'd be surprised." Krystal giggled, smiling at her personal joke.

"Oh, it's very interesting." Megan insisted, "And I do love your company. I'm very pleased that you picked my tank for your meeting place; it almost makes me feel like I'm a part of your group. Especially today; Morgan is off getting his teeth cleaned, and no one else has visited me today. Unless you count the swimmers."

"Swimmers?" Zippy asked.

Megan's voice took on an air of annoyance, "Some people have been swimming in our tank uninvited. I see them from time to time, off in the distance. Groups of them, but when I get close they're gone. I think they're coming in through the aqueducts."

Frowning, Zippy wondered what sort of suicidal idiot would swim with a sixty foot long carnivore, even one as seemingly nice as Megan. Granted, just about anyone she'd seen on Wacked Out Sports or Jackass might think of doing it, but Zippy thought even those morons would think twice about getting in the water with a pair of sharks the size of Megan and Morgan. There was, after all, a bit of primal fear of sharks in the human psyche. It was something about them, rising out of the depths of the oceans silently to strike. The thought made damn near everyone shiver, and although Megan and Morgan didn't seem to have the predatory instinct of a real natural shark; Zippy would still be hard pressed to think of anyone who would get in the tank with them.

So the question was: Who was it, and why?

At the moment, the large half circle classroom where Mr. DeSade taught his Genetic Manipulation class was completely empty. The raised seats, like an old fashioned medical school were vacant from the normal chit chat of the students, and the lights were out leaving the whole classroom in darkness, lit only by the outside light from the rectangular windows at the top of the class. The thick old school wooden desks were all clean and empty, except for one or two items or papers absent mindedly left by students.

There was no one inside, to hear the door lock being jimmied.

It took only a few seconds, but the door gave way and a figure cautiously slipped into the room, heading for the door next to Mr. DeSade's desk, in which he stored all his genetic material. There was an intricate combination lock on the door, a large round brass construction that was actually digital despite looking like something out of the thirties. The figure looked around to be sure there was no one watching and quickly moved over to the door.

Mr. DeSade frequently changed the combination to the lock, and after finding his stuff missing, he surely had done it again, but Amber had a source to find out what it was. She quickly dialed the number and popped open the door, leading into the teacher's private stash of genetic material. Moving around in the wide circular room that was filled with a maze of modern storage cases made up to look like old style wood shelving, as was Mr. DeSade's wont, Amber headed for what she was looking for.

The room itself was slightly oval in shape, and the rows and rows of storage facilities made it into something of maze, but Amber knew exactly where to go. On the far side was a locked facility where all of DeSade's live specimens were, but Amber just wanted some more of one particular kind of mutagen, along with some very specific DNA samples. She found them quickly, and slipped them into her bag.

She left the classroom, making sure to lock all the doors behind her. She could whip this stuff up pretty fast on her own.

And then it was just a matter of slipping it to her unwitting subject.

Back in Zippy, Lizzy, Krystal, and Stitchy's dorm room, the whole place was a buzz of activity. Almost every female member of The Shark Tank Guild was hanging around the dorm, filling up the usually spacious room. Usually they met in the library or at Megan's tank for anything, but to day was a special project, picking out the perfect dress fro Zippy to wear on her date. Most of the outfits were from Zippy's own closet, but a lot of the girls had brought things they thought Zippy would fit into. Vixen and Posey came along as well, helping then carry all the clothes.

Problem was, everyone had different ideas about what that dress should look like and Zippy had tried on everything from cute and pretty to slutty and wild. So far, no real success, and Zippy continually thought of the old saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth". Not to mention "How many morons does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Buttercup had turned out to have a weirdly Lolita like fashion sense, and Zippy had wound up looking like a hipper Shirley Temple. The image of Buttercup with her long extended sloth like neck and arms in that dress herself was a bizarre one, and it took a maximum effort for Zippy not to chuckle.

At the moment, Rina had dressed her in a very conservative long skirt and blouse set, which didn't really work on Zippy, although Rina still seemed to think so. She'd even put Zippy's hair up behind her in a pony tail, making Zippy look and feel like a reject from the 1950s. She almost expected someone to say "Gee, Wally."

"Oh, it's cute." Rina said, leaning over with her hands on her knees.

Behind her, everyone else was shaking their heads including the two Werx, which Zippy had to agree with, "I dunno, Rina, it's not really me."

"Why sure it is . . ." Rina started but never finished.

Suddenly, her body went rigid, and her eyes rolled back into her head with a little bit of tremble. Everyone knew what that meant, and when Madoka arrived, Lizzy quickly filled her in on what they were doing. Swiftly getting excited at the idea, Madoka frowned when she looked at Zippy's current outfit.

"Eww . . . did Rina do that to you?" She asked.

When Zippy nodded, Madoka quickly ran over to her and unbuttoned the first three buttons on her blouse, opening it up wide, and then hiking her skirt up. Even Zippy had to blush a little at how forward she was about it. Taking a step back, Madoka made a face.

"Naw, it still sucks." She observed, "Better loose that one."

Zippy was in hearty agreement, and quickly pulled the out fit off, even letting her hair down for good measure. As she stood there, stripped to her bra and panties, looking over some of the other outfits that had been laid out, the door suddenly burst open and a grinning enthusiastic Miss Piranha burst through the door, dressed as always like some kind of fetish model, with a tight latex dress that hugged her curves like it was painted on.

"Why hello, my little Frankenstiens." She cried, "I just heard the good news!"

"Hey, shut the door, Miss Piranha!" Zippy complained, "I'm in my underwear here."

"Oh hush." Miss Piranha admonished her, "You look adorable in your underwear."

Zippy didn't argue with that.

Holding up what she was carrying, Miss Piranha displayed the dress she had brought, with a grinning naughty expression on her face. There were many moments like this one where Zippy thought Miss Piranha was kind of like a glorified student rather then a full teacher.

"I heard you've finally got a date with Mr. Tordenholler." Miss Piranha grinned wickedly, "Well, lemme tell ya', when he sees you in this little number, he'll be eating out your hand for life."

Zippy looked at the dress that Miss Piranha held and almost passed out. Not surprisingly, it was all leather, with a tight extra short skirt that was slit up the sides and a strapless black top studded with metal balls on the front. The outfit looked super sexy just hanging in her hands let alone with somebody actually in it. Again, Zippy found herself blushing, although she was by no means shy about her body (at least not about anything other then her breast size); she'd strutted around is skimpy bikinis plenty of times; but there was something just too erotic about that dress.

"Jeepers, that'll turn his head." Vixen exclaimed.

"I don't really think that's my style." Zippy told her apologetically.

Not to mention that fact that while Miss Piranha's gigantic boobs would probably have fit nicely in those cups, Zippy's little mole hill probably wouldn't have even held them on. Zippy got a mental image of herself walking into the restaurant in that dress and suddenly having her top fall off in front Kyle. True, that probably would have him eating out of her hand, but it would also probably get her arrested.

Disappointed, Miss Piranha sighed, "Awe, but I used to wear this when I was your age."

Zippy often wondered how long Miss Piranha had dressed like a bondage queen. An image of her as a little girl in elementary school; clad all in leather and latex and already sporting enormous hooters flashed comically through her mind, and she couldn't help but giggle.

More outfits came and went, and nothing really seemed to make the grade. Krystal grumbled about how long it took for women to pic an outfit.

"Do I have to point out that you're a woman now?" Lizzy asked her.

"That's exactly my point." Krystal complained, "I have trouble picking out what to wear every time I change. It didn't used to be like that, but now getting ready for anything always takes longer."

Everyone laughed, and Zippy observed how cutesy and feminine Krystal had gotten; the changes and growth she had made since the surgery had been incredible, and Zippy no longer felt the twinge of guilt she always had before. It seemed that quite literally, she had made a friend.

Suddenly, Stitchy spoke up, "Here, Mom. This one."

She pointed to a dress laid out on her own bed. Jetson was sitting next to it as well. Her turned a bright orange of excitement and waved his tentacles.

"Yes, Zippy. Stitchy is right." He announced, "This is the one for your date. The good life at a great price, guaranteed."

Zippy thought she heard some inflection of hostility in Jetson's voice when he said the word 'date' but looking at the dress, the thought dissolved.

"Oh, wow." Zippy exclaimed, "I bought that for a dinner party that I never went to. I forgot I even had this."

Stitchy held it out for her, "You try it on, Mom. Stitchy know Mom look great in this dress."

Zippy quickly donned the dress and displayed it for everyone, doing a few twirls and poses for good measure. The dress till fit like a glove, and just wearing it gave Zippy and sudden burst of confidence.

Everyone was in agreement: This was the one.

Standing in the cold dim office of the Vice Principle, Amber leaned against his desk slightly casually, as they talked. The attitude was casual, at least as casual as any conversation with Mr. Innsmouth could possibly get. Amber enjoyed a more relaxed atmosphere with the Vice Principle the most, which she planned to exploit as much as she could. Still, Innsmouth regarded her with his sinister eyes, his intense stare as intimidating and threatening as always. No matter who he looked at, there was always a slight air that he regarded the other person as an insect to be stepped on. Amber, despite the hard shell she presented, always got chills in her presence, but she wouldn't let that get in the way of her rightful place at the top.

At the moment, their topic of discussion was Amber's particular favorite subject of protest: Zippy Zipperdale.

"It's downright unacceptable." Amber told him, "She's some lowlife from the outside, and now she'd the top of the school? You told me she'd be inconsequential."

Folding his fingers together, Mr. Innsmouth answered levelly, "And she will be. But for the moment, I feel its fine to let her get overconfident."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one she's humiliating all the time." Amber retorted back.

"Do not forget yourself, young lady." Innsmouth said, his face darkening but with no perceptible change in his voice, "Our association is at my discretion. Do not make me feel it would be better to end it prematurely."

Amber backed off a bit, "You're right, I'm sorry. It's just so embarrassing and disheartening to be show up by some middle class pauper with no real scientific lineage. The top spot is mine by right of birth."

"Then I assume you will work harder in your studies to best her the next time? Honor that 'right of birth' with something more creative then thievery?"

When Amber said nothing, Innsmouth continued, "Zipperdale is a thorn in my side as well. You say she has no real scientific lineage; but you and I both now know that this is not entirely true. Believe me, Miss Tiffendorf, if I had know about her . . . connection, I would never have risked enrolling her. She brings an unstable element to our plans."

"You can say that again." Amber mumbled.

Narrowing his eyes, Innsmouth spoke, "Zipperdale has excelled beyond anyone's expectations. Her achievements have made use of knowledge and technology that none of the teachers here could have taught her. How and where she is getting her ideas is something of a galling mystery. Mark my words, I will solve it. But in the mean time, she is here, she is a student, and there is nothing we can do about it. As I said before, it will be wise to let her get overconfident, secure in her safety, before we think about dealing with her. Do I make myself clear?"

Amber nodded, "Of course, sir."

"For now, lets move on to the subject of our . . . private experiment." Innsmouth said.

On that one, Amber brightened up, "I've already seen some results. I'll administer the next infusion later tonight."

"Excellent, quite good." Innsmouth replied, "If this works the way we want it too, we'll be able to push up the next phase of our plan. You'll receive high extra credit marks if the experiment is a success; one more step on the way to beating your rival.

At the two continued to talk, they were, quite naturally, unaware of an unwanted visitor sitting on the ledge a little to the left of the large wide window that looked out of the Vice Principle's office.

Looking for a quite place to read when the library was too crowded, artificial vampire Eve Absinth had discovered that the easy way to find it was to use her claws to climb the side of the school and find a ledge to sit on during cloudy days like this one when the sun wouldn't bother her too much. She hung upside down from the ledge, dangling a few feet from the window, engrossed in a new book.

Her pointed ears perked up at the sound of the voices within. Through the thick metal walls, she couldn't make out what was being said, but she could recognize who was in there. And the conspiratorial tone of the meeting was unmistakable.

She bit her lip, wincing because of her fangs; this was bad.

The Vice Principle and Amber had formed some kind of alliance.

The medium sized town of Isotope lay a quick Eastward car's ride away from Madam Petri's School For The Gifted And Eccentric, resting on a slightly higher elevation in the large geologic depression in which both sat. Once far back in prehistoric times, Spiritwood Forest had been a massively wide and extensively deep lake; but that had long since dried up, the only water being the river that ran through one side of it, the rest of the lake having been replaced by miles of thick forest except for those places where humans had carved out a residence for themselves.

Isotope was a medium sized town, but looking nothing like any sort of artificial Norman Rockwell painting; Isotope was a modern, fully up to date berg despite its small population. The town had grown up around the school and, indeed, many of the former students had taken up residence here, including most of the teaching facility. A quick tour around town revealed that Miss. Piranha and Miss Gojira were, in fact, neighbors. With a town full of so many high IQs, Isotope was the center for quite a few major international scientific conglomerates, and the local economy boomed because of it.

Being the only town within easy distance from Madam Petri's, Isotope featured many amenities for the students, including the Isotope Mall, a three story shopping extravaganza the was three times as large as any mall in existence and featured a small roller coaster inside the shopping center. Also available was Franken World, a large high tech amusement park on the outskirts of town twice a big as Disney World that came equipped with rides the like of which could be found no where else on Earth. The Isotope Theater was an vast series of concert halls that hosted everything from opera, to movie premieres, to rock concerts.

And then there was The Manhattan Project.

The large multi-section club had been constructed particularly to cater to the Petri's students and was still the primary hang out for them in town. Indeed, it had been opened and run originally by a former student and his great grandson was now the current proprietor. The club had changed a lot over the years with constant remodeling and revisions. In its current incarnation, the club was divided into four basic sections: Nuke's Diner, which was an ordinary sit down restaurant similar to a large Denny's, took up the eastern section. Taking up two floors of the Western section was a more upscale fancy restaurant known as The Fission Lounge, where one could find exotic dishes that probably weren't available anywhere else, including meals made from cloned dinosaur meat, if one was so inclined. Taking up the second floor of the Eastern section above Nuke's Diner was The Private Experiment, a small area set aside for private parties and events.

And then there was the Northern section, The Manhattan Project itself from which the whole establishment took its name. Built initially as a Saloon during the gold rush of 1850 that featured dancing girls, melodrama plays and saw its fair share of wild west gun battles, The Manhattan Project remained in business ever since, firmly supported by the flood of students form the nearby Madam Petri's. The infamous development of the first atomic bomb, in fact, took its name from the club, rather then the other way around. It was now a night club, featuring live music, a full bar and grill, and plenty of wild nights all around. Many of the more shapely residents of town picked up extra cash as cocktail waitresses there, not to mention a quite a few of the students who wanted real world work experience.

And it was in front of this section that a nicely dressed Kyle Tordenholler stood out front, waiting for Zippy.

He had thought about taking her to The Fission Lounge instead, but tonight was Jazz Night at The Manhattan Project, and that was always a mellower, more date worthy, environment. The low lights, the smooth music, it was just too perfect to pass up. He was sure Zippy would enjoy it; they'd talked about Jazz many times before.

He fidgeted, obviously nervous to anyone who passed him as he glanced at his watch. Still ten minutes to go; he knew he was being silly, but he couldn't help but be nervous. This was, after all, his first date with Zippy and he was very excited. All this time he'd known her, he'd never noticed a hint of her interest in him. Now that he thought about it thought, he'd been asininely obtuse on that front, as now all the obvious signs that he missed came flooding back to his brain. He goofy school girl giggles alone should have tipped him off, but somehow he'd been slow on the uptake.

Granted, he hadn't had much experience with the opposite sex; not that he was unpopular with the girls, but rather that most of his checkered past left him with very little time for romantic or sexual pursuits. Before coming to Madame Petri's and starting a new life, his family history had often reared its ugly head and ruined most of his relationships with girls before they even got started. The best he had ever managed were either one night stands, or at best brief flings.

His mood darkened a little bit: Even though he was far away from all that now, the nagging fear that his past might ruin his friendship and barely begun relationship with Zippy still tugged at him. He had taken great pains to hide his family history from everyone and anyone, but it was still there, lurking in the shadows of his past like malignant cancer waiting to spread. If Zippy ever found out that he was really . . .

His thoughts were mercifully interrupted by the arrival of a Petri's car in front of the club. The cars the school used to transport students back and forth were experimental hydrogen cars. The school itself was powered entirely by wind, hydroelectric and geo thermal power, much the same way power is generated in Norway, so the electrical requirement for extracting the hydrogen from water burned up no fossil fuels (the main obstacle against hydrogen cars in the US: all the major power plants are fossil fuel powered, so the electricity needed to extract hydrogen used more gas then the cars they're trying to replace). The way the new cars differed from standard hydrogen cars was that they could extract a certain amount of hydrogen from the air itself, when present, as they drove supplementing their fuel. To date, none of them had ever run out of fuel.

Kyle recognized Posey behind the wheel. The passenger door opened and Zippy got out the car. Had Kyle been a Loony Toons character, his jaw would have hit the floor and his heart would have been protruding from his chest. He had never seen her looking so good as she did now in that dress.

The dress was a slinky, form fitting number that hugged Zippy's curves with a soft caress. It was tied on her right shoulder with small broach but was strapless on the other. It ran down knee length and was slit up the left side up to her hip, the dress was black with a red trim and a complex pattern made of several interlocking rectangles decorated the right side starting at her navel and going all the way down to the hem.

The neckline fell at a diagonal angle from her right shoulder and ending under her left arm. I easily hugged and accentuated her small breast size pleasantly rather then hiding it or artificially inflating it. It was an agreeable surprise, since Kyle knew how sensitive Zippy was about her bust. He'd almost expected her to stuff . . . but no, now that he thought about it, Zippy probably wouldn't bother doing that.

She wore sparse but decorative jewelry: A thin silver necklace tipped with a fossil mako shark tooth, with matching earrings, and a similar bracelet on her wrist. Her fiery red hair was tied behind her head in a pony tail, leaving her facial features unobscured. For the first time Kyle could ever remember, Zippy was wearing contacts instead of her glasses, leaving her startlingly blue eyes much more visible then usual.

Kyle swallowed: She looked fantastic.

"Thank you, Posey." Zippy said to the Werx.

"Blork." Said Posey and drove away with an amiable wave of her metal hand.

Zippy walked up to the still dumbstruck Kyle, "Hey."

"Hah! Gflabbin!" Kyle stammered.

"Excuse me?" Zippy asked, not unreasonably.

"Hello." Kyle said, regaining his composure.

A little bit of color showed on Zippy's cheeks, "I feel a little silly in this dress."

"You look anything but." Kyle assured her, "She we go?"

He reached out and took her hand. Zippy felt her heart quicken as she felt his warm skin press against her palm; this was it: She was finally on real date with Kyle. All that fumbling and giggling had evidently paid off. Zippy steadied herself, feeling light headed and faint. She looked at Kyle with a bit of wonder; what exactly was it about him that made her feel like this? She had never felt awkward like this with someone before, never felt this self conscious. What was it in him that triggered these responses in her? What was it that made her react so much differently any of the many other guys she'd been out with?

Looking him over, Zippy realized that Kyle was just as nervous as she was.

Zippy had been here once or twice with Lizzy, but those nights had been rowdy and noisy. The Jazz night was understandably, a much mellower affair.

The Manhattan project was a wide rectangular room with all the walls painted black. All over the walls were mounted replicas of various scientific inventions from all over history, and high up on the ceiling hung two full scale replicas: One of the Wright Brother's original airplane, and the other of the Apollo 11 space craft that had taken astronauts to the moon. Along the South side of the room ran a long full bar staffed by a few bartenders and some Werx. Tables were set up in front of the bar, all round ones with a radiation symbol painted on the tops. Interspersed were a few small stages with brass poles where dancers might strut their stuff on wilder nights, but tonight were empty. A wide stage took up the north wall with deep red curtains and in font of it laid a wide dance floor, with another radiation symbol painted on the floor.

On the stage, a band played Jazz softly. The crowd was small and low key as they talked or listened to the music. Along the west and east walls were some private booths, and Kyle led Zippy over to one of them.

Glancing around her, Zippy could tell the dress was really having the effect it was supposed to. Several glances came from guys in the club, a few sparking the irritation of their dates. At least two came from women.

They got their menus, they ordered. And after that, things just got awkward. There were some uncomfortable silences as neither one really knew what to say. To their dismay, they were both a little intimidated by this sudden change in the dynamics of their relationship. Zippy realized, Kyle was just as afraid of saying the wrong thing as she was. After this went one for a while with a dizzying amount of idle small talk, Zippy felt like all her hopes were going to be dashed on the rocks. She decided to break the ice herself.

It came flooding out her mouth without thinking about it.

"I still remember the first time I saw you." Zippy said, the words coming out with a smooth seductive tone that surprised her, considering her nervousness.

Kyle relaxed a little, "Really, when was that?"

"The first day I arrived at Petri's." Zippy said, remembering, "Madoka was showing me around, and I saw you outside the dorm hall. You were on your way somewhere. I noticed you right away. There was just something about you; I right away thought you were cute."

The sudden switch to more forward conversation made a little color come to Kyle's cheeks. A small grin appeared across his face.

"I . . . guess I didn't notice you then." He said sheepishly.

Taking a sip of her drink, Zippy asked, "Well, when did you first notice me?"

Without having to think about it, Kyle answered, "I think it was the same day. You . . . plunged out of one of the upper floors and fell right in the moat. When you came up to the surface you had Jetson on your head."

In an instant, Zippy turned beet red: She had forgotten about that incident with the Farrell Twins on her first day; or rather she had deliberately pushed it out of her mind. This was a nightmare, of all the things to be Kyle's first memory of her; it had to be of her soaking wet with a squid on her head. And being taunted by Cristobel and everyone else, no less. She was quiet for a second as her face got hot, remembering her humiliation in front of all those students, and then she burst out laughing.

"Oh . . . my . . . god!" She giggled, "That's right; you were there at the shore. You said something to your friend. I can only imagine what it was."

Kyle glanced down at his plate, a little bit of sheepishness creeping into his face.

When he looked up he said, "Actually, I told him you're hair looks good when it's wet."

Not believing him, Zippy was quiet for a second and then raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

"You've got the kind of hair that lays smooth and flat across your head when it gets wet, instead of being all stringy and disheveled." Kyle Explained, "It looked really good on you, even with Jetson messing it up a bit. So I asked my friend who you were, and that the first time I heard of that hot new student everyone was so excited about: Zippy Zipperdale."

He paused a little before continuing, "I wanted to get to know you better, and later on I really wanted to ask you out, but I never thought you were interested in being anything but friends."

"Really? You never noticed at all?" Zippy asked incredulously.

He shrugged, "Nope."

"But my brain used to go all haywire every time I talked to you. It was horrible; it was like my mind turned off at the sight of you and got completely stupid till you left."

"I thought you were just kidding around."

"So we both just wasted a whole lot of time thinking the other one wasn't interested? Man, are we pathetic or what?"

And then, the both burst out laughing again.

After that, the conversation flowed and they laughed and talked, drawing closer and enjoying each other's company as the music played in the background. With the cat out of the proverbial bag, compliments went back and forth and flirting began in earnest and the two of the coyly played with each other over the meal. It was everything Zippy could have hoped for; she was finally here, out on a date with the guy she had been smitten with for what felt like an eternity. And he liked her just fine, it was like the magic had been turned on; and Zippy felt like she'd float out of her seat at any moment.

It was the most fun Zippy could remember having in a long time.

Deep in the darkened lower levels of Madame Petri's, it was quiet as a tomb. And that was exactly what a student by the name of Felicia Eudemons was afraid it would end up being for her. She ran through the darkened hallways, turning one way or the other, not ever sure where she was anymore, her face a contorted mask of unimaginable fear as she ran around in a blind, horrified panic. Only sporadic light was available this late at night this deep in the school, yet Felicia ran blindly through the dark, more terrified then she had ever been in her life. Her heart hammered in her chest and she whimpered as she ran. Turning down one hallway then another, getting herself hopelessly turned around, but she dared not stop running.

For a few seconds she paused, listening in the darkness. She heard nothing, and suddenly her heart relaxed a bit as hope filled her that she'd gotten away.

And then she heard it: A sickly wet scraping sound rapidly coming up behind her.

She turned and ran again, stopping only to try some of the doors on either side of her. Every door she tried was locked. She pulled on the door knobs one after the other frantically trying to find one that was open. They all held and she whined in terror as the sounds rapidly got louder. Closer as whatever it was that was chasing her closed in. She could now hear a disgusting slurping sound which seemed to echo off the walls.

The hall ended up ahead and then split in opposite directions. There was another door at the end. She ran for it, grasping the handle and turning it. She felt a flood of elation as the knob turned: The door was open!

She pulled the door open rapidly and felt all her hope sink away: The door opened onto a solid brick wall. She cured the bizarre features that plagued the lower and upper levels of the school. Earlier she had run up a flight of stairs, only to find that they didn't actually go anywhere except to the ceiling. The whole school was loaded with features like that since it was a tradition of each headmistress to never stop construction of the school.

She ran down the left hand hall pushing herself as hard as she could go. Her blood froze as the sounds seemed to be right behind her. She sprinted forward, tears now streaming from her eyes.

Her skin crawled as something wet and smooth gripped her leg. Loosing her balance, her flesh trembling in horror and revulsion, she pitched forward towards the bare floor of the hallway. With an agonizing slap she hit the ground, her head colliding painfully with the wood. Flashes danced in front of her eyes are her pain shot through her head. The world swam around her, and she felt blood gushing from her nose. She was sure it was broken. Disorientated, she tried to get back on her feet.

And then, she was grabbed by her legs again. Her fingernails scrapped the floor as she was pulled screaming into the darkness.

It was a little after closing that Zippy and Kyle finally left The Manhattan Project. They had been the last to leave, ending the night like a clique from a TV show: Still sitting at their table, talking and laughing amiably while the entire place was empty except for the employees cleaning up around them. They had finally decided to head back, getting up and heading for the exit. As they got out, Kyle had slipped his arm around Zippy's waist. Her heart quickening, Zippy had returned the gesture and they'd walked out like a real couple.

Out front, Kyle told her, "This was a lot of fun. I'm glad we finally did this."

"Definitely." Zippy nodded, and then added tentatively, "Should we do it again sometime?"

It was only a split second before he answered, but to Zippy it felt like an eternity.

"Yeah, absolutely." Kyle said.

And then, suddenly, they were in 'the moment'; Zippy had been in it countless times before, but this was more intense then it had ever been. They looked at each other, making eye contact. Zippy's heart pounded in her chest sending blood to her face making her flush slightly. That electrical spark of excitement passed between them, and Zippy felt it energize her. They stood facing each other, goose bumps rising and Zippy's arms.

Kyle brushed some of the hair out of her face, and Zippy thought his was going to act, but the awkward pause remained. Her breathing had deepened as excitement flowed through her, and she could tell Kyle was just as excited. Still, he seemed unsure, not able to act. Zippy was at a loss for a second; should she act first? Should she be the aggressive one? She didn't want to blow this moment. She thought of other guys she been out with, and suddenly, she knew what to do.

This moment called for subtle body language: Those simple motions that communicated with small movement what words took a whole sentence too. She simply straitened up, and lifted her head up a little, displaying her readiness.

To her relief, Kyle seized the movement and her at the same time. He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him, right up against his body. Leaning down to her, Zippy felt her whole body come alive with electric tingles as he placed his lips on hers and finally kissed her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close as their lips moved against each other. Their eyes closed and Zippy felt her body warm as she pressed against him, feeling the soft touch of his lips. It almost felt like she was melting into his arms, the way a good kiss should feel. And this was a good kiss; it felt like for that brief moment of physical connection that the world had stopped and there was just the two of them and their passion for one another. She moved her body slightly, rubbing it up against his.

His hand ran up and down her back, caressing her as they kissed, fleetingly threatening to 'cross the boarder' as they went lower, but never quite doing so. Zippy wasn't sure she would have stopped him if he had.

Finally, they broke the kiss, separating only a little as they looked into each other's eyes, feeling the magic between the two of them.

A chorus of cheers from in front of them altered them to the fact that they weren't alone. Zippy yelped and Kyle gasped and they both flushed a deep pink color. They looked at each other, and then slowly, and apprehensively, turned towards the sound of the cheers. They both turned to see that Posey's car had returned, and every single one of their friends were crammed into it and watching them.

Everyone leaned out of the doors and window, whistling and hooting, clapping their hands with raucous enthusiasm, wide grins on faces and a few blushes. Suddenly, Zippy and Kyle's private moment had become center stage.

"Yeah!" Madoka cried, revealing which one she was at the moment, "You get her, Kyle-baby. Go for it."

"You go, Mom." Stitchy cheered, having apparently defied all known laws of physics to fit in the car.

"Ah, young love." Cooed Miss Piranha.

"They're so cute!" Squealed the Farrell Twins in unison.

"What a monstrous romance." Laughed Miss Gojira, surprising Zippy with her presence.

"It's about time." Commented Lizzy.

"Blork." Said Posey.

Zippy and Kyle looked at each other, timidly at first, and then both started laughing. A small giggle at first, and then they were both doubled over with laughter, as all their friends piled out of the car and ran over to them. Zippy threw her arms around the first person who got there, who happened to be Lizzy. The crowd encircled them both jostling with excitement.

As embarrassing as that had been, it was great to have the entire Guild behind her.

Late in the evening along the central shaft, an exhausted and slightly frustrated Tiffany Pikenbeiler made her way back to her dorm room after long after hours work on her own project, followed up by helping out Amber on her project to best Zippy Zipperdale's achievement. It hadn't been going very well; the general concept was to create an artificial human with fully augmented capabilities from raw genetic material, effectively a perfect clone. Everything they'd tried had seemed to fail, and Tiffany was left wondering how Zipperdale had made making scientific history look so easy. Even when Tiffany had insisted that they needed a break, Amber had driving them on, consumed as always by her personal vendetta against Zipperdale. It was a nightmare, but Tiffany had held on, even when Charity had bailed out claiming she didn't feel well.

She wouldn't have done it for anyone else but Amber.

What was worse was that she was now sweaty and slightly disheveled, and she was out in the open where anyone could see. It was, Tiffany felt, completely beneath her to look anything other then her absolute best. She hoped no one saw her.

She made it to the dorm room she shared with Charity without meeting anyone. As she approached, she could see that the light was already out. Her selfish bitch of a roommate was already sound asleep while she was up late looking less then stellar. She snorted with contempt; why was she the only one who had to suffer. She opened the door and went in reaching for the light switch as she did.

Charity's voice stopped her, it sounded weak and wavering. Through the light from the hallway, Tiffany could see that her roommate was curled up under all her blankets completely, almost like she was hiding in there; no part of her stuck out.

"Leave the light off. I . . . I've got a terrible headache." Charity mumbled.

Tiffany rolled her eye, "Whatever."

She closed the door and went to her bed starting to undress. She didn't care about Charity's headache or whatever the hell her problems were, she just wanted to sleep. Couldn't Charity see that she was tired, and she wanted to bug her with her own problems? She pulled off her clothes and slipped into her $400 Giorgyana night gown from La Perla and crawled under the covers, ignoring the slight whimpers from across the room.

Hidden under the sheets, Charity shivered and clutched her arms around herself. Something was very wrong: Her muscles and skin felt like they were contracting and moving by themselves and her flesh was quite literally crawling. She shuddered and clenched her teeth as the room swam around her. She curled her twitching body up in a fetal position, fear and horror running through her as icy fingers of terror ran up her spine. Aches and small spasms ran all over her. It was almost like her body was changing; altering somehow.

What was happening to her?

**I Stitchy! In next chapter, all us girls plan fun girls night out, Farrell Twins have big robot battle with Amber, and some things happen that change everything in next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist**** "The Ninth Experiment"**

**Eureka! Stitchy got it!**


	9. The 9th Experiment

**ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:**

**MODERATELY MAD**

**SCIENTIST:**

**The Ninth Experiment**

**By Hardcover**

After a long night of tossing and turning in a sleepless torment, her body shivering and shuddering as its muscles seemed to move on their own, Charity Milquetoast only managed a small amount of sleep, finally nodding off after curling up in a fetal position, scared out of her mind while her body seemed to ripple with motion that was not of her own volition. She had been frightened out of her mind, not knowing what was happening to her, but she was even more frightened of going to a teacher. It was one of her secret fears, that something might happen to her and the teachers would turn her into their own private guinea pig instead of helping her.

So she had lain in bed, as who knows what happened to her, afraid to tell anyone, not even her roommate.

She awoke, not with a gentle return to consciousness; but rather a sudden jolt, as if from some nightmare that she couldn't remember in her waking state but none the less left her fretful and scared. She peered out from under the sheets and saw through the dim light filtering through the shades that her roommate Tiffany Pikenbeiler had already left without even bothering to wake her. She had obviously slept right through her alarm.

Timidly, Charity threw the covers back on her sheets and swung her legs over the side. Something was strange; the room seemed slightly different somehow: Almost like it was subtly more defined and clear to her eyes then it had ever appeared before. She dropped to the floor and tried to stand up.

She could only manage a slight stoop; she was distressed to discover that she couldn't stand up all the way.

She staggered towards the bathroom, new fear crawling in her belly. She felt all different. She was standing on her toes, but she couldn't seem to put her feet flat on the floor, and there felt like there was some kind of swelling at the base of her spine, it felt heavy and uncomfortable, like something was attached back there.

She passed a mirror and looked at her reflection.

At that moment, Charity screamed.

Crouched down naked in the shower, Zippy playfully splashed water onto Jetson who was also in the tub with her. She giggled as she cupped the water in her hand and tossed it in the direction of the squid, who squirted back at her with his funnel. They were both having a good time when Zippy thought she heard a scream.

What did someone screw up now, she wondered?

Deep in the massive underground tank that she called her home, Megan the megalodon swam gently through the gloom. She was in the middle of the tank, and as such could not see the surrounding walls. It was almost like being in the open ocean, but safer. Nothing in this tank would threaten her children once they were born, or at least Megan hoped so. She lazily moved around, letting the salt water flow through her mouth where it was filtered through her gills, giving her the oxygen she needed to live. In these moments, alone with her unborn pups, Megan felt almost serenely at peace.

She knew where her mate was, of course; Morgan was far below her swimming around at the bottom of tank, which he enjoyed. She floated around, noting the heaviness in her abdomen: It wouldn't be long now, and her twins would be born. The thought filled her with an excited giddiness and a warm feeling that ran all the way down the length of her sixty foot body to her tail. She couldn't wait to be a mother, a mother of the most unique set of twins in the world: The next generation of the new species of megalodon that she and Morgan represented. She swelled with pride and excitement at the thought.

She moved and angled her head, pushing forward with one mighty thrust of her tail. Suddenly, her lateral lines, fine fluid filled vessels that ran along the length of her body that picked up vibrations in the water, began to detect movement. As she turned around, her keen eyes spotted something far at the end of the tank. They were almost invisible at this distance, but she could definitely make out several figures swimming in the tank with her.

Annoyed, she gave another powerful thrust of her tail and headed in their direction. She didn't mind guests, but whoever these people were; they were coming in uninvited and trying to sneak around unnoticed. It was just common courtesy to announce yourself when you entered someone else's territory, and Megan didn't like anyone sneaking around in hers and Morgan's like a human thief; especially not with her twins on the way.

But, as with the other times she'd noticed them, no matter how fast she moved, they were gone by the time she got there. Even at her top speed of 35 MPH, the human figures were gone before she arrived. She snorted in annoyance, pushing bubbles out of her nose. She was sure they were using the aqueducts to move in and out of the tanks, it was the only way. She clacked her teeth together: These intrusions were more then just irritating; they had her significantly worried, and when you're sixty feet long and have a mouth full of six inch teeth, that wasn't easy to do.

What bothered her the most was something she hadn't told Zippy and the other girls: Like all sharks, Megan's senses were quite acute, utilizing a wide array of stimulation to sense things in the water. One of her most powerful was her ampullae of Lorenzini; a network of canals in and along her head that were filled with a special jelly like substance that allowed her not only to detect magnetic fields to help her navigate, but to detect the weak electrical stimulation of muscle movement that all living things give off. At any given time, Megan knew where every other animal in the aquarium section of the school was (hell, she knew when students were swimming in the moat), and she always knew when the humans were coming around before they got here.

But these swimmers, these intruders into her territory, gave out such a strange, low key signal, that they were almost invisible to her in the water.

Chatting excitedly as girls do, Zippy, Lizzy, Rina and Krystal made their way down the hall enwrapped in their conversation. They're conversation was one to be expected; the other three were trying weed juicy details about Zippy's date with Kyle out her. They were prodding, but Zippy was insistent that they'd seen everything that was worth seeing when he kissed her, but they still pressed for more details. What they thought could have happened, Zippy didn't know; it wasn't like he had proposed to her or anything. But the gigging and jabbing continued.

In the midst of all this, Krystal was having a ball; as she had grown to adore girl talk, the kind of fun light conversation that had never been available to her as Cristobel; she found she looked forward to these moments of simple fun with the girls. She wondered if now would be the time to bring up a girls night out? She had been itching to try something like that for a while now.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing to tell." Zippy insisted, "You saw all the best stuff when he kissed me."

"I think you're not telling us the whole truth." Lizzy said.

"Of course I am." Zippy rolled her eyes, "If we'd done anything else I'd tell you."

"Are you sure?" Rina smiled happily.

"Rina, how shy do I look." Zippy said levelly, "If we'd had sex, I'd have told you about it."

Rina blushed, her face turning a bright shade of pink, "Ah . . . that's . . . that's not what I meant."

Everyone giggled at Rina's embarrassment. That hadn't been entirely true; as far as Zippy was concerned, if they'd had sex, it was none of their goddman business (At most, she might have told Lizzy), but she'd said it to get exactly this kind of reaction and put the focus on Rina and not her. As they moved forward they were suddenly confronted by Miss Piranha, dressed in a slinky leather outfit that looked more like it was strapped to her body rather then worn by her. She clapped her hands gleefully together as she saw the four girls.

"Why hi there, my little Frankenstiens." She squealed, "And how is our girl Zippy after her big date?"

Zippy smiled, "It was great. We really hit it off and we're gonna start seeing each other. It was perfect."

"So," Miss Piranha asked with a gleam in her eye, "Did anything else happen? More then that kiss we saw?"

Zippy rolled her eyes and everyone laughed, even Miss Piranha was trying to wring the juicy details out of her. Maybe she was just reading things into it, but for the last few days it seemed like Miss Piranha had been overly chipper with them, as if she had been trying to hard to look happy and energetic. It occurred to Zippy, that she might be depressed about something, there was an unusual look of sadness in her eyes, and emotion that had seemed, for a long time, almost foreign to their strange leather clad teacher.

The thought was interrupted by Krystal, who jumped in with a suggestion, "You know what, this calls for a celebration."

Zippy raised an eyebrow at her, "It does?"

"Yes! It does!" Krystal insisted, "Just us girls! A night at The Manhattan Project!"

As soon as she said it, Krystal felt a wide excited grin spread on her face. She tried to fight it down, but she couldn't help her enthusiasm; she'd been wanting to have something like this since she first realized she treasured her moments with the other girls. With her friends, she realized; which she had never had a lot of before now. Well, that made sense, at least now she knew why she was so energized about this prospect.

"You know," Rina piped up from the back, "That's not a bad idea; we haven't had a night out with just us in a while. And the spa will be working tonight; we could all go there and relax afterwards."

Zippy chewed her lip, the idea seemed fun, "What the hell, let's do it: A girl's night out for The Shark Tank Guild. We can bring Stitchy along; she should experience this as well."

"Yes, and Eve will be awake by then." Lizzy said "We should invite her too. The Twins will wish to come as well."

"Then it's settled!" Krystal proclaimed, much too loud.

Miss Piranha smiled at her, "You're really looking forward to this, aren't you, Krystal?"

All Krystal could do was nod and giggle.

Zippy patted her shoulder, "Wow, you really are one of the girls now."

Zippy noticed that Krystal's eyes actually got moist at that statement. But it was the truth, Krystal had assimilated faster and more completely then she had expected. And she had become, quite surprisingly, a rather good friend to them. It was good to see her embracing her new identity; though the ease of it was unexpected. Though maybe it shouldn't have been; Zippy now knew that Cristobel's life had not been the perfect existence he'd made it out to be. The question was, did this new integration into the group make Krystal more fragile then she should be? Zippy wasn't sure, she didn't really think so, but it was a concern.

On the other hand, watching Krystal practically skip down the hallway in excitement; it was hard to think her being so happy was any kind of bad thing.

The sprawling fake city in Miss Gojira's class was under attack once again, this time the four legged robot was a lithe wolf like construction that stomped its way through the miniature metropolis, crushing buildings, biting freeways and sending missiles careening at the targets with exploded with deadly accuracy and instantaneous results. The robot strolled forward, its' lupine face swinging back and forth as it did so, moving further into the artificial conurbation, wrecking untold urban cataclysm. Its dark eyes whirred as the cameras within sought out its next target.

The robot was called the Dual Kalkageon; it was seven feet long and polished a bright chrome color that glistened in the morning sun as it moved. It was controlled by the Farrell Twins, working in tandem at controls boards that sat on their desks. The class cheered with enthusiasm as the Twins demonstrated their creation. Miss Gojira happily made notes on her note pad, dressed in Uhura's outfit from Star Trek, her cosplay fixation in evidence as usual.

"Oh! Oh! This is so awesome!" She squealed with her usual glee.

The Kalkageon made its way and spotted the last target. With a high pitched wine, its tail shot out in a curved whip like motion and hit the building with a tremendous crack. The metal whip slashed through the structure, ripping it apart in seconds. The small fake building collapsed and exploded, falling in pieces to the ground like a demolition drop. A huge pile of dust flooded out from the pile of rubble as the fake building ended its existence.

The robot moved back and off the city settling down on its haunches as it powered down. The wrecked buildings lowered into the ground and were replaced by new ones a few seconds later that rose up from underneath. Miss Gojira picked up a small microphone that was remotely wired to a few speakers, a new addition to her class that made her lessons look even more like the WWE then they had before.

"Alright, excellent work, girls." She chirped happily, "Especially with that whip tail; the function came off flawlessly. High marks for both of you."

Miss Gojira came over and patted them both on the shoulders, and then as an added bonus, reached down and rubbed their bellies. The two wolf girls yipped with delight and twitched their legs like puppies.

When she went back to the front, Lorne Vasectomy leaned over with his usual wide eyes and dark bags under his eyes, and said, "Great work, Nadjia."

"Thanks." Nadjia replied.

"So what am I, chopped liver?" Katjia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, yes." Lorne admitted, "Good work, Katjia."

Katjia rolled her eyes at him.

Amber got up and went to the front to give her presentation, passing the Farrell twins as she did.

"Not bad for a pair of mongrels." She sneered snidely.

She suddenly jumped back as the twins both growled and bared their teeth at her. Giving them wide berth, she continued up to the front, casting another apprehensive glance at the twins. She gave a derisive snort and stepped up to the front of the classroom, where several Werx had moved her project into position, covered by a large canvas tarp.

She cleared her throat and spoke, "For my latest invention, I decided to take a route rarely traveled before: Why duplicate the limited use of mammalian limbs? My new robot is designed to be as versatile and functional as possible, compacting a wide variety of functions with a simple, pragmatic design. I give you: The Multi Function Tiffenbot 2000!"

At a rather pompous gesture from Amber, the Werx pulled the sheet off of her creation and revealed it in all its metallic glory: The robot consisted of a large slightly oblong rounded main body that was highly polished and glinted in the morning sun. The globe sat on top of a round pivot out of with two large HD cameras faced forward, moving back and forth on gyros. Along the left side of the globe, a small exhaust funnel pointed out at diagonal angle.

Underneath the pivot, a series of eight gyros mounted an equal number of long metal tentacles, that seemed to house small doors in their tips. Amber pressed a button on the small remote control she carried, and a low groan was heard as the robot powered, raising it tentacles as if at attention.

Tapping her clipboard enthusiastically, Miss Gojira exclaimed, "Oh, that's a beautiful octopus robot, Miss Tiffendale."

Amber bristled at the comment, "It's NOT an octopus. It's a Multi Function Tiffenbot!"

"It's got eight tentacles." Miss Gojira offered.

"It's NOT an octopus!" Amber insisted.

"Okay, whatever you say." Miss Gojira said, waving her off.

Katjia rested her hands on her chin and muttered, "It looks like an octopus to me."

Rapidly pressing buttons, Amber made the robot move forward and into the city. With a rapid manipulation of the controls, the Tiffenbot lurched forward as the targets appeared. With a loud clack, each of the tentacles opened at the tops and revealed various weapons hidden within. Waving the tentacles with deadly accuracy, the Tiffenbot sent bullets, missiles, lasers, metal whips and other items at each target at once. Within seconds, all targets had been leveled.

There was a collective round of gasps from the class at the Tiffenbot's effectiveness. Amber chuckled to herself, narrowing her eyes. She punched a few more buttons and the Tiffenbot moved forward with smooth motions. As soon as it got close, the weapons in the tentacles retracted and other tools began to pop out with a series of metallic clicks. The Tiffenbot began moving it's tentacles around rapidly, and to the surprise of all, began to rebuild the demolished buildings, working fast and rapidly, it's tentacles a blur of motion.

It took less then a minute for the structures to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, and when it was done, you would swear nothing had happened to them. When its task was completed, the Tiffenbot simply went back to its "attention" pose, awaiting further instruction. Amber gave a haughty smile at the class.

"As you can see, the Multi Function Tiffenbot not only can destroy, but repair as well, and there is no end to its abilities with its unique design by me." She announced, "And as such, I feel is just one of the best that can be achieved with current technology."

Despite the snotty wrap up, the class couldn't help but be impressed by the display put on by the Tiffenbot. There was a round of applause, even if some of it was slightly reluctant.

Even Nadjia had to say, "Wow, that's an awesome octopus!"

Amber turned and glared at her, "It's NOT an octopus!"

Nadjia shrugged, "It looks like an octopus to me."

Apparently, the Tiffenbot's resemblance to an octopus had been some sort of contention the whole time that she was building it, because she became infuriated by Nadjia's insistence that it looked like one. Truth be told, Nadjia was not the only one who couldn't help but see a cephalopod in the round bulbous body and eight long tentacles.

"That's because you're an uncivilized idiot!" Amber retorted, "Go back to your goddamn jungle, mongrel."

"Humph!" Nadjia folded her arms over her chest, "Beats being a snotty little stuck up skank."

Amber gritted her teeth, "You're just jealous because my robot can mop the floors with yours."

Now Katjia was in on this, "Yeah, in your dreams, Amber."

Years of life in the wild had left the twins with almost remarkable intuition, so they knew what was coming, and had already powered on the Kalkegan before Amber furiously sent the Tiffenbot at them in a rage. The Kalkegan leapt forward and plowed into the Tiffenbot in a preemptive strike with a screech of metal on metal. The two robots flew back into the fake city, tearing through buildings and reducing them to rubble before splitting apart and squaring off.

Miss Gojiria squealed with delight, speaking into her new microphone, "Oh, it looks like we have a death match here, ladies and gentlemen. In one corner we have the Farrell twins and their Dual Kalkagean, and in the other corner, we have Amber's Multi Function Tiffenbot octopus thing."

"It's not an octopus." Amber growled.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Miss Gojiria cried, excited beyond measure by this new development.

The metal tentacles streaked out and tried to grab and crush the Kalkagean. The other robot moved easily and dodged the blow sending its whip tail out at its opponent. The Tiffenbot skillfully beat the whip off and tried to follow up with a laser blast but the twins had already moved their creation out of range. The Kalkagean ran at them jerking left and right, dodging the laser blasts until it was too close. The Tiffenbot raised its tentacles and swung them at the Kalkagean with attacked with its claws.

Abandoning the exchange of fire, the two robots began to grapple with each other, exchanging blows back and forth, each one by turns gaining and loosing ground while their controller frantically hammered buttons on the control box. The clanging sound of metal crashing against metal filled the outdoor classroom as the titanic struggle gained steam, both robots pounding on each other with a furious determination, fueled by the endless energy of pissed off angst ridden teenage girls.

Sounding like a ringside announcer at a wrestling match, Miss Gojira kept up a blow by blow announcement, "Good left hook from the Kalkagean, but the blocked by the Tiffenbot!"

The Tiffenbot began to throw its tentacles at the Kalkagean furiously. The Twins blocked the blow but the Kalkagean was being driven further and further backwards loosing ground until it teetered dangerously close to the edge of the school's moat.

"The Kalkagean is backed up to the shore!" Miss Gojira squealed, "Is this the end."

Amber fired off one massive punch to the Kalkagean, shoving the robot over the edge and towards the water. Just as she thought she had them, however, the other robot reached out and grabbed hers, pulling the Tiffenbot down with it. For a split second, the two machines wavered on the edge of the moat, and the they both went over, hitting the water with a tremendous splash that sprayed the class with droplets of liquid.

"Both combatants have plunged into the moat!" Miss Gojira announced, "Is this the end?"

For a while, nothing happened, the water was still and quiet. And then, both robots broke the surface, still locked in their battle. Swept along by the water, they moved down the stream, trading blows with each other in furious conflict, seeming almost possessed by the irate rage of their controllers.

Eager to see the rest, the class followed the two robots along the banks, with Miss Gojira gleefully keeping up her commentary.

Just before the bridge that sat in front of the main entrance to the school, the robots reached shore and crawled up onto dry land still grappling with one another, much to the surprise of the students standing out front. People went scattering for cover as the two machines locked in combat with each other. Mud splashed and caked the bottoms of the robots as they crossed the banks, hammering on each other with tireless fury.

Circling each other in as they exchanged blows, the robots sent the sounds of grinding metal on metal up into the air. They circled the fountain out front as their limbs flew at each other so quickly it became a blur to the human eye. In their fierce combat the creations almost seemed to come alive on their own, rather then being controlled by their creators as they pounded each other with reckless abandon.

The class surrounded each other them and followed them, talking amongst themselves and laying odds on which one would win. The robots crashed through the main entrance to school, pulling the doors off their hinges.

Gortcha appeared in the main hall almost instantly. He strolled forward angrily, his metal chest puffed out in indignation.

"All right ya' punks." He glowered, "What have you gotten into this time? You don't wanna go messing with Gortcha today, or I'll whip your asses but good."

The two robots came bursting through the doors, locked in mortal combat with each other, their limps furiously lashing at each other with an almost hateful embrace of violence. Rolling forward without a hint of stopping, Gortcha screamed the minute he saw them, dodging out of the way and then running back down the hallway screaming in panic.

"Waaaaaahhhhhh! I don't wanna die! Help me!" He cried like a little girl.

Other students went running out of the front hall while Miss Gojiria's students followed Amber and the Twins inside. The two creations battled it out, metal and gear symbols of the three girl's animosity towards each other. Loud pounding and clanging filled the room with deafening intensity as each party tried to defeat the other, combat escalating furiously in and almost insane competition of irritation.

In the end, the final blows came in a manner worthy of a Warner Brothers cartoon. The Kalkagean lurched one arm and got in a devastating blow to the Tiffenbot's head, crunching into the metal and penetrating deep into the cranial circuitry. Just before it went down, the Tiffenbot threw a tentacle and neat eviscerated the Kalkagean's chest, ripping its power supply to shreds.

All Amber and the Twins could do was stare in shock as their robots keeled over in a useless shower of sparks and smoke. Werx filed into the room and quickly began repairing the damage as the girls stared at what had happened, speechless.

Behind them, Miss Gojira was bouncing up and down like a kid in a candy store. Completely unconcerned that her tiny 1960s Star Trek dress had ridden up over hips, and revealed to the class that she was wearing red panties with the words "I love Nimoy" written on the back.

Krystal was sitting in her dorm room putting together a list of things she needed for her next project. She was barely able to concentrate; the prospect of finally having her girl's night out was just too distracting. She tried to calm herself; after all she didn't want to go in having too big of and expectation for the night and let herself get bitterly disappointed. But the idea had been brewing in her head for some time now, and it was almost impossible for her not to get excited at the prospect of finally having it.

She smiled a little; her time with her friends: It was the antithesis to her previous life of solitude and manipulation. All her life, she had heard people talking about the value of friendship; but she'd never understood it. Sure, she knew the importance of making contacts and alliances, but Cristobel had never really understood the real value of good friends. Except for his friendship with Kevin.

She felt that now familiar warm flow over her body at the thought of her friend. She'd long since stopped trying to stop it when it came, even though it was a very good bet that there was no future for them. It inevitably led to bouts of sadness and frustration, but often she felt that the brief euphoria of fantasy was worth it. She chuckled and kicked herself; she was being foolish and romantic. There was no way she and Kevin could be . . . was there?

She got up, slipping the list into the pocket of her uniform, and moved towards the door. He head was dizzy with both thoughts of Kevin and tonight's festivities. She had her head in the clouds to such an extent, that she didn't notice that Jetson was in the room until she had stepped on one of the squid's tentacles. She didn't realize what it was at first, only that she had stepped on something soft and squishy, until she heard the cephalopod yelp in pain and alarm.

"Ouch!" Jetson called, "Medical assistance needed!"

Krystal quickly moved her foot, looking down apologetically, "I'm sorry, Jetson, I didn't see you there."

"Unacceptable, Krystal!" Jetson waved his tentacles indignantly, "Revenge shall be mine!"

"What? Jetson . . ." Krystal began.

But Jetson had already scurried off towards the bathroom, "When you least expect it: Expect it."

"I said I was sorry." Krystal called after him, miffed by his attitude.

She chuckled a little at her self; she was apologizing to calamari. Still, it seemed that Jetson had been agitated lately, and she wondered what the cause was. Zippy's devotion to her pet had a certain endearing infectious quality to it, and Krystal thought she would probably feel bad if anything ever happened to the little guy.

She slung a large bag over he shoulder and made her way out of the dorm room and down the hallway, moving out into the central chamber which was always crowded with people. She was heading for the supply room to pick up some of the stuff she needed for her project. As usual, the central shaft was pandemonium as students on all the levels ran this way or that in middle of various experiments. Krystal pushed her way through the crowd, heading for the lift. As she made her way forward, she was surprised by the sudden appearance of Rick Millhouse as he approached her.

She's barely known Rick when she was a guy; he'd always been that boy who always followed Charity around. After becoming Krystal, she'd talked to him probably once. She knew he was Charity's boyfriend now, but none of the old groupies had anything to do with her these days, and it was almost like they were from another life. It was a bit of a surprise the Rick actually came up and talked to her.

"Hey, Cristo . . . ah, I'm sorry, Krystal?" He started.

"Hey, Rick. What's up?" She asked, unconsciously giving him a gender neutral greeting.

"I was just wondering if you've seen Charity anywhere." He asked her, "Or if you know where she is?"

Krystal shook her head, "Sorry, I haven't seen her."

Rick ran a hand through his hair, "She didn't come to any of her classes this morning, and she's not in her dorm room. You don't know what's going on?"

Again, Krystal shook her head in the negative, "I'd like to help, Rick, but Charity hasn't spoken to me at all since . . . this."

She waved her hands down, gesturing at her female body. Rick nodded in understanding.

"She's not answering her phone either." Rick moaned, "I'm worried about her."

"I haven't seen her, sorry."

Rick thanked her and moved off. Krystal continued, thinking about the conversation. Rick had really looked worried about Charity. She wondered, almost playfully, if Kevin would get that worried if she disappeared. The thought made her smile a little as she moved to the platform.

Suddenly, she was confronted by Jetson right before her. Before she could even register what he was doing, the squid took aim with his funnel and sent a blast of warm air out of it's body and up in Krystal's direction. She felt a gust of air against her bare legs and her hair flew back, billowing out behind her with the force of the blow.

Too her shock, she realized that her skirt had also been blown up around her chest, completely exposing the cutesy pink and white panties she was wearing underneath. They even had a small heart on the front. She cried out as the whole area took a gander, more then a few camera phones clicking.

Krystal turned beet red as she franticly shoved her skirt down, "Eeeeeeekkkkk!"

The storage room she'd gone to, one of many in the school, was empty at this time of day, so Krystal had no trouble going around and finding the items she needed. Ticking them off on her list, she moved around, slipping what she needed into the bag she'd brought. This wasn't exactly a high profile project, but it was a point of pride with Krystal that she never did a half assed job. For everything she attempted, she used her whole ass, or she didn't do it.

She grabbed another item, stuffing it in the bag. She didn't admit it to anyone, but she'd always found these storage rooms pretty creepy when she was alone in them. Something about the low light and the shadows cast on the wall; it always made her feel a tad uneasy. If she stayed in here long enough, her mind began to play tricks on her. She shivered a little but moved on deeper into the room heading after the last item.

When she first heard the sobbing, she was sure it was her imagination again. But as the sounds persisted, she began to realize it wasn't; somebody was in here with her, somebody crying. For a split second, Krystal thought it was a ghost. She quickly chided herself for jumping to such an unscientific conclusion. She followed the sounds of the sobs deeper into the storage room, trying to pinpoint their source.

The thought occurred to her that it might be Charity; maybe something had happened to her and she'd been hiding out here all day. Hell, maybe she was just still upset about having the word 'thief' burned on her face from Zippy's booby trap. It was hard not to snicker at that thought. But when she turned the corner and spied the figure curled up on the floor, she could see that it was not Charity at all.

To her utter surprise, it was Miss Piranha.

She sat on the floor, curled up with her legs pulled up to her chest, tears flowing down her cheeks, smearing the excessive mascara and eyeliner she always wore. Her eyes were squeezed shut her body shook with the sobs as she cried and moaned despondently. It took Krystal back for a second; she'd never seen Miss Piranha like this before. She was usually so peppy and upbeat.

Cautiously, Krystal approached her teacher, "Miss Piranha?"

Miss Piranha gasped a little as she was discovered; she looked up at Krystal, an almost guilty expression on her face as being caught in such a vulnerable moment. She stared up at her, moisture still flowing down her face. She attempted a weak smile, with no success.

"Oh, Krystal . . . I'm sorry." She tried to wipe away the tears but fresh ones replaced them.

"Miss Piranha, are you alright?" Krystal asked her.

She kicked herself as soon as she'd said it; anyone could see that Miss Piranha was far from alright. It was almost frightening to see the always jovial and exuberant teacher reduced to this much misery; as if there was suddenly something very wrong with the world.

Miss Piranha again tried and failed to smile, "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just having a cry."

There was a small, very uncomfortable silence, and then Miss Piranha broke down. Her face sank and she buried her face in her hands, sobs wracking her body as she cried loudly and desolately.

"Oh, I'm not alright! I'm not alright!" She cried wretchedly, her tears spilling out from between her fingers.

Staring down at her teacher, Krystal was at a loss over what could have driven Miss Piranha of all people to such despondency. Was it a man who dumped her? Or had she been reprimanded or fired?

Krystal knelt down next to her, "Miss Piranha? What happened?"

For a long time, the teacher didn't say anything, simply cried, finally, she turned and looked at Krystal, a heart rending hopelessness in her eyes. Her lips quivered, and she seemed to be debating whether she should answer. She looked down at the floor, sniffling softly.

"I . . . got my medical tests back at the beginning of the week." She said.

Again there was a pause, Krystal's heart hammered in her chest. She almost didn't want to hear this. Medical tests? This didn't sound good.

Miss Piranha looked back at her, her eyes filled with despair, "I have bone cancer. I . . . I'm dying."

Her first reaction was a flood of denial; her mind flatly refusing to believe what she had just been told. In fact, a flare of anger rose in her; infuriating her that Miss Piranha would play such a cruel trick on her. But looking into her eyes, the disbelief fell away at the agonized, fearful gaze. Suddenly it was like the floor had opened up beneath her and Krystal was sucked down into a pit of never ending darkness.

It felt like Krystal had been slapped in the face. Fear and pain clawed at her stomach as the news sank in. Miss Piranha, dying? It felt like the most unnatural thing in the world; not Miss Piranha, who was always so full of life. Although as Cristobel, she'd though of her as a ridiculous waste of a teacher; she grown to really appreciate her as Krystal. Much like she'd been with Zippy, Miss Piranha had been the one teacher who had been the most approachable and the most supportive of her since her transgender surgery. The thought of loosing her, of being without that bubbling support, it horrified Krystal. More then that, she realized she thought of Miss Piranha as a friend, not just an instructor; as important to her these days as Zippy and the rest of the Shark Tank Guild.

And cancer, why'd it have to be cancer? Cancer was one of the few diseases that Madame Petri's had never found a cure for.

In a fully impulsive move, Krystal put her arms around Miss Piranha and pulled her close to her. The older woman shudder and heaved with renewed sobs, and quickly wrapped her arms around her student's waist, her body trembling as she filled the air with the sounds of her frightened misery.

"Oh god, Krystal." She moaned, "I'm so scared."

Krystal held her tightly, almost desperately; as if she was afraid Miss Piranha would fade away right in front of her if she let go. She held on to her as her teacher cried despondently gripping her waist with such force that it actually hurt. She felt like a chasm of despair was yawning open to swallow her up, but she held on and let Miss Piranha cry on her shoulder.

"Okay, let it out. Let it out." She said softly, trying to sound comforting.

What could she say? What in the world could you tell someone who was dying? What could you say to someone who told you something like that? Krystal was at a complete loss. She just hugged her and hoped it was enough. For a long time, the cries and sobs came uncontrolled, as Miss Piranha's body shook with tremors of grief. After a while, they slowed down, turning into simply whimpers.

"I'm here. I'm here." Krystal murmured, hugging her.

She didn't know what else to say or do.

"Thank you, Krystal." Miss Piranha blubbered, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have burdened you with that. You don't have to stay; you have that party with the girls tonight. I know how excited you were about that."

It took only a second for Krystal to respond, surprising herself with her words.

"It's alright, I won't go. You're more important." She told her.

She stayed where she was, blowing off the party that minutes ago had been so important to her. He decision surprised her a bit; for so long in her life, her life as Cristobel at least, nothing had ever mattered but himself. Other people were always tools for him to advance himself. As Krystal, she'd been aware of that changing, but she hadn't really expected that much. Now, here she was tossing something she'd wanted so badly to take care of someone else. It wasn't what she wanted to do, she realized, but it was what she felt she should do. And it was simply not in her nature anymore to leave Miss Piranha laying on the floor in this dire condition.

Miss Piranha managed a bitter laugh through her tears, "I was lying. I don't want you to go. I want you to stay with me. I'm selfish, I know."

"I'll stay." Krystal ran her hand over her head, "I'll stay all night if I have to."

She felt Miss Piranha's tears splash over her neck as the woman renewed her desperate sobs. She pulled tight against her, holding on to Krystal like a life boat. Krystal felt splashes of moisture on her cheeks.

She realized that she was crying too.

A far cry from the way it had been on her date with Kyle, Zippy found The Manhattan Project tonight to be a loud, wild dance club, packed with people. The décor was the same as it had been, with addition of stage lights that bathed the room in an ever changing spectrum of color. Music played, the kind of stuff you would have heard in any club, and people danced and drank or sat at tables conversing loudly over the noise. Stitchy had been practically mesmerized by the abundant lights as soon as she walked in, looking everywhere with her customary enthusiasm, trying to take in everything as quickly as she could.

Aside from Zippy and Stitchy: Lizzy, Katjia, Nadjia, Madoka, and Eve were also there. Zippy was returning to their table where Lizzy and Stitchy sat waiting for her with their drinks, easy to find since Stitchy's towering frame was easy to spot.

As the music pounded, the Farrell Twins had hopped up on the bar and were bumping and grinding in fine booty shaking fashion, dressed in loose fitting tiger striped dresses that seemed appropriate for them.

They both howled joyfully together, "Awwooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Although it was Rina who had agreed to come to the outing, it was Madoka who had shown up. Dressed in a tube top and a mini skirt that probably was illegal in some countries, Madoka was out dirty dancing with a variety of guys, grinding on them in ways that was sure to make Rina blush when she found out what Madoka had been doing with her body.

Everyone, it seemed, was having a great time. While simultaneously wondering where the hell Krystal was.

Zippy slipped into the booth, handing the drinks to the other too. She'd insisted on something non-alcoholic for Stitchy, worried about how it might affect her assembled system. Lizzy was dressed in a long black sleeveless dress, as usual looking like she was on her way to a funeral, or simply like Morticia Adams. Stitchy, on the other hand, was wearing a short mini skirt with black stockings and a sleeveless button up half top. The outfit exposed a lot of skin, and made Zippy feel a little wary of the looks her creation was getting.

It also made her slightly jealous, Stitchy's boobs looked great in that top, and Zippy knew her small ones would never have looked that good. She shook off the unwelcome immature resentfulness and focused on something else.

Zippy looked around her, "No sign of Krystal?"

Lizzy shrugged, "She is not here, unless she's hiding."

"That's odd," Zippy said, "This whole excursion was her idea. She was so excited about it."

"Maybe she sick? Or working on project?" Stitchy suggested.

"I guess so." Zippy mused, "I'm just a little worried."

"You always worried, Mom." Stitchy rolled her eyes a little.

Zippy pursed her lips, "It's just that . . . has anyone notice how fast Krystal has assimilated to her new identity since the surgery?"

Lizzy nodded, "I've noticed it. But if everything Kevin Crowsfeet was telling us about is true, it should be expected. She suddenly has a free pass out of her former life. It stands to reason that she would embrace it. Besides, what other choice does she have?"

Stitchy piped up, "Stitchy no know her when she was guy, but Stitchy notice Krystal always happiest when she with new friends. From what you tell Stitchy, Cristobel had no friends, just people he used. Stitchy think Krystal have what she secretly always wanted deep down."

"I know, I know." Zippy said, "I'm just wondering if this sudden change from lone asshole to bosom buddy might have left her more fragile then she should be."

Stitchy took a sip of her drink, "She don't seem that fragile to Stitchy."

Lizzy nodded, "I understand your concern, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."

Stitchy added, "Besides, Mom doing this all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Zippy raised an eyebrow.

"If you worried about Krystal." Stitchy proclaimed, "Mom should talk to Krystal, no Stitchy and Lizzy."

That was true, Zippy smiled a little at that. Stitchy had a blunt way of putting things, but sometimes you needed to hear the obvious. Still, Zippy wondered why Krystal had skipped out on something that had been so exciting to her a few hours earlier. It was ironic how Zippy couldn't have given a damn what happened to Cristobel, but she now counted Krystal as one of her best friends.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the approach of a guy from school named Raj. He was a tall good looking guy from Indian descent who shared a couple of classes with zippy. He looked a little nervous and flustered as he approached the table. To Zippy's surprise, he went up to Stitchy.

"Hi, Stitchy." He said, uncharacteristically nervous, "W-would you care to dance?"

Instantly, Zippy got defensive. She opened her mouth to tell Raj to buzz off, when she was interrupted by Stitchy's jovial response.

"Yes! Stitchy would love to dance." Stitchy said, standing up her full six foot seven inch height; six foot nine in the heels she was wearing.

Raj smiled happily, "Great!"

Taking Stitchy by one massive hand, Raj led her to the dance floor, the frankengirl skipping behind him enthusiastically.

"Wait," Zippy started, "Maybe you shouldn't . . ."

But Stitchy was already gone, following Raj gleefully onto the floor. Zippy looked after them apprehensively, defensive and protective instincts welling up in her stomach.

"Lizzy, maybe we shouldn't let her dance." Zippy said, "If she's not any good, she'd be humiliated. It could be detrimental to her development."

"When have you even known Stitchy to get humiliated?" Lizzy asked, "She doesn't have a shy bone in her body. I know, I helped put them there."

"Yeah, but maybe she'll have a bad experience, I don't want her to get hurt."

"It was your idea that she should come with us and experience this. Stop with the overprotective mother routine, it doesn't suit you and you'll give yourself wrinkles."

"But I worry about her; she's only been alive for a short while."

"You don't have to worry, take a look."

Zippy looked over and saw that Stitchy was dancing happily with Raj. Not only was she dancing, but she was dancing really well. Despite her monstrous size, Stitchy moved fluidly and expertly, shaking her hips and moving her legs with confident movements, as if she had gone dancing a million times. And she had quickly attracted the gazes of other people in the room. She boogied gleefully, wiggling her body with moves that would have put Shakira to shame. And she did it with a shameless abandon that crackled with energy.

"How is she doing that?" Zippy wondered.

"The same way she knew how to save that girl in the hospital." Lizzy reminded her, "Trace memories still embedded in her nervous system."

Zippy pulled the small digital voice recorder she always carried out of her purse and spoke into it, "Subject again displaying advanced motor skills, excellent control of muscles and concise coordination. Umm . . . also excellent control of hips."

Suddenly, Zippy stopped; several other guys had come over, and asked Stitchy to dance. Stitchy was giggling and talking with them, and it took a second for Zippy to realize that she was actively, and effectively, flirting with all of them. On full instinct, Zippy got up and started towards them. She only got a few feet before Lizzy grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Take it easy, 'Mom', I told you: You'll give yourself wrinkles." Lizzy berated her.

"She might not be ready for this," Zippy complained, "Maybe I should just chaperone her."

Zippy attempted to pull out of Lizzy's grip, but suddenly found Madoka grabbing her as well. She saw that Stitchy, unable to decide on a dance partner, was now simply switching off from one to the other, dancing a bit with one guy, then moving to the next. Zippy bit her lip, both worried and a little jealous. Stitchy seemed to be using that great cleavage Zippy had given her very well, and as usual Zippy felt self conscious about her own size. She bit her lip and pressed against the Lizzy and Madoka's grip.

"I need to be there for her." Zippy insisted, "What if one of those guys tries something inappropriate?"

"Stitchy could pound all of them into a pulp with one hand. What could they possibly try?" Madoka rolled her eyes, "Stop worrying about her and let her have her fun."

Zippy looked at Stitchy. Her creation was smiling and laughing and having a good time, dancing her massive heart out. She did look like she was having a good time. Zippy was right, she shouldn't spoil it for her. She just felt so protective of her; maybe it was her eternally optimistic attitude and joy for joy way of looking at the world. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was, in a very real way, Zippy's own creation, her own child of sorts. But the over protective impulse just couldn't help but rear its empty head.

Zippy relaxed and let the others pull her to the dance floor. She eased up and began to dance, starting have a good time herself. But she couldn't help glancing at Stitchy and checking up on her every once in a while. And she couldn't help looking around the room.

Where the heck was Krystal?

Roger Hortan came back to his down room in the school more then a little exhausted after a long study session. He'd been in the library, working on his next exam. He'd been letting it go for a while, and now was cramming at the last minute as usual. He was tired and bleary eyed now, and really just wanted to get into bed and go to sleep. He was not the best student in the world, and it was a lot of back breaking work to keep from becoming Madame Petri's next 'volunteer'. At the very least, his roommate was off somewhere working on a project, so he could be sure of some uninterrupted sleep.

He opened the door to his dorm room and walked in, not bothering to turn the light on, and closed the door behind him. The window let in enough moonlight so that he could see his way to the bed. He dropped his bags on the floor randomly, took off his jacket and tossed it in the general direction of the closet, and staggered over to the bed.

As soon as he got there, he knew something was amiss.

It wasn't anything concrete, just a sudden feeling, like he was being watched. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he felt a chill go down his spine. He glanced around the room, looking for whatever might be giving him this feeling. In the moonlight, everything seemed to be shadows, and every shape suddenly seemed a bit threatening.

He reached for the lamp on the desk, and that was when he smelled it.

It was a sudden overwhelming stench of ammonia, along with a distinct fishy odor that assailed his nostrils right away. He coughed and gagged as the smell seemed to coat the inside of his mouth. Looking around, he couldn't see where it was coming from. He flipped the light on and gasped.

It was barely discernable in the low light, but SOMETHING crouched near the foot of his bed. It seemed to be vaguely human in shape, but more like a primate in its hunched posture. He could make out the writhing shape of tentacles all over the thing's body as it hunched there, looking at him. The only aspect he could clearly see where it's eyes, which reflected the light like a cat's eyes, but were grotesque globular orbs, devoid of a pupil or iris.

The thing made a retching sound and vomited something out of its mouth. A thick sticky substance splattered over Roger's face, covering his nose and mouth and keeping him from screaming. He tried to pull it off, clawing at with his hands as panic surged in him, the substance hardened to a bone like solidity instantly, and bonded to his skin like super glue.

As he tried to pull the suffocating mask off, the creature attacked him. Roger fought as the wet, rough arms grabbed him and kicked and punched like mad, trying to break the grip of the revolting creature. It was like the animal didn't feel any pain at all. Roger almost gagged as he felt the slick, pulsing tentacles wrap around his body, but he willed himself not to vomit, knowing he would choke.

All at once, he was lifted off the floor. He twisted and tried to roll his body, fighting against the gripping tendrils, but they held him fast, and suddenly he was thrown across the room. He slammed hard into the window, the glass and pane shattering as his body flew through it. Shards of glass and splinters of wood nicked his skin and his blood ran cold as he found himself hurled out of his room on out to a three story drop.

He plunged downward, screaming into the mask on his face. He hit the ground feet first. More pain then he'd even know exploded into his body as his leg bones shattered upon impact. He fell to the ground, convulsions hitting his body. Unable to breath, he was getting dizzy.

He tried to drag himself forward, and that was when he saw them: Everywhere, things moved . . . crawled . . . OOZED towards him. Bizarre clicking and gurgling sounds filled the air as a dozen of those monsters surrounded him. He was grabbed and dragged helplessly along.

He felt the icy cold touch of water, and his last conscious thought was the realization that they were dragging him into the moat. He was pulled completely underwater, and dragged downward. Further and further down he went until the liquid blackness swallowed him whole.

Making her way down the hall, Krystal felt empty and hollow. She had stayed for hours on the floor, holding the distraught and despondent Miss Piranha in her arms. It had felt like an eternity and worse Krystal had felt completely helpless; there had been nothing she could do for her, except be there and hold her. She'd tried to say or do whatever she could, but she wasn't sure if it helped or not. She cried quite a bit herself; the idea of losing Miss Piranha was tearing an unexpected hole in her heart.

At one point, she had even kissed her full on the mouth. Any other time, that would have seemed astonishingly inappropriate. But then it hadn't seemed sexual or perverse just . . . what they both needed: As much comforting affection as possible.

Finally, Miss Piranha had calmed down enough that Krystal was able to take her back to her classroom and get her into the bed she sometimes slept in that was located in a room in the back of the class. She stayed by her side until she was sure Miss Piranha had finally fallen asleep, only then did she feel safe leaving her there.

She fingered the shark tooth pin on her uniform, thinking of the other guild members.

She'd missed the entire night out, but not unreasonably, it didn't seem that important anymore. Looking at the time, she realized that everyone must be at the spa by now. After a moment's thought, she headed that direction. After all, now that Miss Piranha was safe and sound for the night, there was no reason she couldn't go and try to relax. She wasn't going to do her teacher any good by being a ball of stress herself.

And truth be told, she didn't want to be alone.

She made it to the spa area and entered the girl's side, through the right hand door that led into the girl's locker room. The wide round locker room was lined with shiny chrome lockers that opened and closed with the touch of a hand, as well as small non mechanical square shelves for those that didn't want to bother. Most students hardly ever used the high tech ones since there was always a Werx guarding the place anyways.

Krystal could see that the others were already here as their clothes and purses were laid out on the shelves. Picking one near the other's, Krystal placed her bag on the shelf and then began to undo the ties on her uniform. A few quick pulls and she pulled off her top and dropped her skirt to the floor. Sitting on a cushioned bench, she began to remove her stockings.

She wasn't sure if she was going to tell the others about Miss Piranha's cancer. True, Miss Piranha hadn't told her to keep it a secret, but she may have wanted her to. After all, the only reason Krystal knew about it was because she'd found her lying there. She pursed her lips; it was a tough decision in and of itself.

She stood up and placed her stockings in the shelf. She reached behind herself with both hands and unhooked her bra in one quick motion. She had to smile a little: She had gotten quite good at that. It had used to be a real pain and she'd struggled finding the clasp every time. Now she unhooked it one two three. She slipped her bra off, letting her breasts fall out. It was always a bit of a relief taking it off at the end of the day.

She thought of her friends in the other room, that weird collection of eccentric geniuses. It might be a good idea to tell them, she thought. With all the unconventional thinking . . . well, she didn't want to get her hopes up, but maybe they could help.

She took off her panties, stripping herself nude, and after putting them on the shelf, she headed into the spa. This was actually a really good idea, she released she was infinitely stressed out after the revelations about Miss Piranha. A little relaxation might help, at least let her think more clearly. She walked out of the locker room and into the spa itself.

She passed the massage tables where sever Werx stood ready should any student require a massage. They were made mostly of metal like the standard ones, but had soft latex covered hands to do their work. It looked inviting but Krystal passed them up and headed for the Jacuzzi. Her naked feet padded on the tiles and went into the room. There, sitting around as naked as she was were most of her friends.

The room was tiled with black and white patterned tiles all over the floor, flanked on the walls by wide benches. The wall, unlike the usual metal and rivets that marked much of the school, was a slate grey color. There were several different sized hot tubs built directly into the floor. The other girls were all in the largest one available, a wide sized tub that was shaped like a lima bean.

Zippy, Lizzy, The Farrell Twins, Madoka (at least it seemed to be her with her, Rina usually held her arms in front of her), Eve and Stitchy all sat soaking in the warm foaming bubbles. Krystal felt her face redden a little with heat. True, she had come to full accept herself as a girl, but there was still a bit of embarrassment and a tiny thrill at seeing them all naked together. Despite her transformation, and her new interest in guys, Krystal had not entirely abandoned an appreciation for women, and seeing the whole group like this still made her blush a bit. Even Stitchy, whom Krystal had helped assemble and had seen naked many a time.

Jetson sat by the side of the tub, his tentacles waving lazily.

Stitchy noticed her first, rising up her hand in greeting in her usual enthusiasm, "Hello, Krystal. Stitchy wonder where you were. Come join us, we miss you."

Eve turned around, "There you are, where were you? This whole excursion was your idea I hear."

"I . . . something came up." Krystal said, "It was unavoidable."

All the girls gestured for her to come over, encouraging her to join them. Krystal felt a swell of affection for her friends as she knew this was what she needed at the moment. Despite the lousy prick she'd been as guy, they'd all made her feel like one of them. She slipped into the warm bubbling water in between Stitchy and Eve, instantly feeling the soothing warm caress of the hot tub. Her muscles seemed to relax almost immediately.

"You missed it, Krystal." Madoka chortled, "Stitchy was the hit of the dance, guys were falling all over each other to get on the floor with her."

Lizzy said, "Yes and Zippy was the over protective stick in the mud."

Zippy blushed as everyone laughed, "I was just concerned about her, some of those guys might not have had very good intentions."

"Oh, I'd say they had all kinds of good intentions." Madoka winked in Stitchy's direction and the continued, "Besides, I keep telling you Zippy; Stitchy could have taken all of them apart with her bare hands; they weren't going to try anything."

"Oh, Stitchy no want to take boy apart." Stitchy sang gleefully, "Stitchy want to hug boys and kiss them!"

"Okay, so they weren't going to try anything Stitchy didn't want them too." Madoka corrected herself.

Everyone laughed happily, Krystal along with them. This was the kind of thing she had come to treasure as of late; the simple pleasures of being with her friends. Still, as the conversation continued, Krystal barely paid attention as her friends chattered on about classes and projects and other possible excursions in the future. Her mind continued to flow back to Miss Piranha and her cancer. She felt like she had to do something, but she had no clear idea what.

Again, she weighed the options of whether she should tell the others or not. It was obvious that Miss Piranha was hiding her affliction, hiding out in the storage room to cry the way she had been. But out of all her students, the Shark Tank Guild was closest to her. Again Krystal thought of the amount of brain power and radical thinking that this hot tub full of naked girls represented. Add the guys to that mix and you had a lot of innovation; did she dare hope that the Guild might be able to save Miss Piranha.

Looking across at Zippy, who was seated low in the water to cover up her undersized breasts, Krystal found her eyeing her with a bit of worry. Just like Zippy to notice that something was wrong with her. Very little got past her room mate, that was for sure.

Eventually, everyone got out of the Jacuzzi and headed for the steam room. The wide wooden room filled with warm steam almost instantly and the girls lay or sat on their towels, continuing their girlish conversations. Again, it was the sort of moment that Krystal felt very attached to, but brought down by the haunting specter of her inner crises. Krystal talked, but half heartedly and it felt hollow. Still, she was glad to be with all her friends. She probably could not have bared to be alone right now.

The room filled with steam and soon everyone had droplets of moisture clinging to their bare flesh. Lying around nude in the heat and steam, the girls chatted lazily about a variety of topics that tended to mesh nerdy scientific topics with ordinary girl talk; like weather or not their boobs would sag in long duration space flight.

The conversation took the turn it so often did at Madame Petri's, and they began discussing future projects. Topics ranged from invisibility to home made space craft, and it had long been suggested that the entire guild cooperated on some kind of massive project. Figuring out just what was, however, was a problem as usual. As the gaggle of naked geniuses continued debating potential ventures, Krystal too a deep breath and seized the opportunity.

"I think we should develop a cure for cancer." She declared quickly.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at her. The twins both yipped in surprise at the suggestion. Zippy narrowed her eyes at her, staring at her intently.

Katjia said, "That's . . . ambitious, Krystal."

Madoka chimed, "Yeah, Krystal, I applaud your boldness, but a cure for cancer has stumped the most brilliant teachers at this school. What makes you think we can do any better?"

Krystal gestured at Stitchy, "We've already have done better. The holy grail of mad science is taking a steam bath with us. Between the minds in this room, and rest of the Guild, I think we can do this: giants standing on the shoulders of giants so to speak."

The others looked somewhat less then convinced and cast uneasy glances at each other.

Lizzy spoke up, "I don't know, Krystal, what you are proposing is an incredibly difficult task. It could take a very long time before we find what we need, and we'd need to finish before the end of the year."

Much quicker then that, from the sound of it, Krystal thought.

And then said, "Yes, but I really think we should work on a cure for cancer."

Zippy leaned forward, concern on her face, "Krystal . . . do you have cancer?"

All eyes turned to her in shock. She couldn't help but feel a little swell of pride that they all seemed genuinely distressed at the thought they might loose her, but she fought it down. That was the kind of thing she would have thought as Cristobel, but now she knew she had more important things to worry about. She looked at their faces, the worried expressions almost frightened expectations.

"No." She assured them.

There was a collective sigh of relief from the group.

Krystal added, ". . . it's Miss Piranha."

The stunned silence that greeted the revelation could have been cut by a knife. Krystal began her story telling them about finding Miss Piranha crying and what had transpired, leaving out things she considered too personal but giving them the gist of it, telling them how she'd spent the whole night cradling the despondent teacher in her arms. When she was finished, she felt warm liquid trailing down her cheeks and realized that she was crying again.

She wasn't the only one, the Twins were tearing up and looking at each other, and Stitchy had buried her large head her massive hands and was sobbing despondently. Zippy put an arm around her and patted her back. Suddenly the warm climate of the steam filled sauna felt like it was ice cold.

The silence was broken only by Stitchy mumbling, "No, Stitchy love Miss Piranha."

After another long period of nothing, Zippy took a deep breath and declared, "Well, alright then: A cancer cure it is."

Everyone looked at Zippy, questioningly. There was no objection to what she said, but just an air of doubt. Krystal realized that they all, herself included, were suddenly looking to Zippy for some shred of hope. Zippy was putting on a brave, steely face; but in her eyes, Krystal saw a hint of the same fear and uncertainty that plagued her. But with all eyes on her, Zippy was playing the role of leader all of a sudden, and burying her emotions.

Lizzy spoke up, "Do you really think we can do it?"

Zippy pursed her lips, "We have to try, if nothing else. But Krystal's right: I don't want to sound stuck up, but just three of us re wrote mad science as we know it and the result has her butt planted right here with us. Imagine what all of us can do if you put our minds to it, I think we owe it to Miss Piranha to at least give it a try."

A quick glance to Lizzy and Krystal made a silent statement that they both understood: They also had the knowledge in the hidden library.

One by one everyone agreed; they would work on a cancer cure, and try to save Miss Piranha. It was a daunting task, but Zippy felt not only committed, but energized as well. As impossible as it seemed, Zippy felt a real tangible hope that the Shark Tank Guild could pull this off. After all, if they did this, they'd be saving Miss Piranha . . . and millions of others as well. As lofty goals went, you could do much worse.

After a long time they finally got up and headed back to the locker room to get dressed. As they went, Zippy found herself glancing over at Krystal frequently. She'd come a long way since her days as the self centered and egomaniacal Cristobel. Zippy couldn't help but be impressed by the amount of compassion that Krystal had developed.

The massive, monstrous black eye bigger then Zippy's head; bulged wide in shock. Megan's huge mouth dropped open, six inch teeth and all as she heard the news. She floated in front of the window, as devastated as anyone else about the news. Her shark's face was not made for expressing emotion, but the feeling was flowing off her just the same. Zippy could almost feel the shock and grief through the glass. She was sure, had Megan had tear ducts, she would have been crying. The sixty foot megalodon, that prehistoric killing machine, was devastated at the news of a friend's illness.

"Miss Piranha . . . dying . . . I . . . can't believe it." Megan stammered through her implant, "She . . . she always comes to visit me. She was gonna be there when I have my pups."

"Hopefully she still will be," Said Zippy, "We're going to working on a cure for her, but I don't really know where to start."

Zippy stood in front of the huge window that looked out into the massive, seemingly endless tank that housed the two gigantic megalodons. Jetson sat on her shoulder, moving his tentacles slowly as she reached up and absent mindedly stroked his cone. This solitude was what Zippy had craved after Krystal had dropped the bomb about Miss Piranha. As always, being at Megan's tank help focus her thoughts.

Megan shook her massive head in despair, "Oh, Zippy, you've got to save her. This is horrible, I can't believe it."

Not unreasonably, Zippy knew exactly how Meagan felt. She felt wounded and hollowed out inside her self. The night had started out with so much fun, but the news of Miss Piranha's illness now made everything feel just a little bit off. She was torn up; her heart feeling like it had been shredded. But she knew everyone was looking to her to lead, for better or for worse, and she kept a brave face on. But it was a porcelain mask that felt like it might shatter at any moment.

Suddenly, Zippy jumped back a little as another massive shape appeared in the window. Morgan made a rare appearance, rising up from out of the gloom and settling in next to his mate so fast that he actually scared Zippy a little bit. He spoke, his own implant flashing, in a voice that always comically reminded Zippy of Tom Selleck.

"Did I hear you right?" He asked abhorred, "Miss Piranha's dying?"

All Zippy could do was nod silently.

"No! No! Why? Why her?" Morgan groaned, thrashing his massive head back and forth.

The anguish in Morgan's voice, perfectly translated by his implant, stabbed Zippy right through the heart. She bit her lips, feeling sobs rising up in her own chest. She fought it down, keeping her cool. They all looked to her, she told herself, and she had to be strong for all of them. Even the massive sharks, as strange as that might sound.

"It's horrible!" Megan moaned, her implant picking up on her emotions and rendering a voice that sounded for all the world like it was crying, even though Megan was incapable of the action, "I hate it! I hate this cancer thing! I wish cancer was something alive! Something I could tear apart with my teeth and save her . . . I wish . . . I wish . . ."

She trailed off, despondently. Morgan leaned in close and to Zippy's surprise, nuzzled his mate with his nose. It was a display of affection Zippy rarely saw between the two giant sharks. It was almost human in its tenderness. Again Zippy felt tears well up within her. She fought them down, but it was getting harder.

"We're going to work on a cure. Me and the other Shark Tank Guild members." Zippy told them, "We're going to try to save her, get everyone in on working on this. We are going to try as hard as we can."

"Oh, Zippy! Please save her! Please!" Meagan begged her with heart rending hopefulness.

"I'll try. We'll do our best." She told her, "But I don't know where to start, and I don't know . . . how much time we have . . ."

That was the biggest problem: Miss Piranha could easily die before they found their cure.

That was it, she lost it. Zippy's knees buckled beneath her and she fell against the glass of the tank. There no fighting the flood of emotions, Zippy broke down and let out an anguished cry, tears flooding down her cheeks, her body wracked with sobs of grief and despair. Her cries echoed in the empty hallway. Emotions swirled within her in a wild tempest: Fear, grief, and anger. So much anger. Miss Piranha had been the only one there for her when she'd first come to Madame Petri's, she'd been the only one to support her. Now this cruel, amoral world was sentencing her to a slow, painful death. Zippy hated, hated the whole universe for what it had done to her teacher. She slammed her fist hard against the glass, feeling a jolt of pain surge up her arm. Her anger was in danger of overwhelming her, but her grief was doing that already.

She felt Jetson's tentacles grip on her tighter, and she realized he was hugging her.

"Please don't give up, Zippy." Jetson said, quietly, "Please don't give up."

As her sobs eased up, she opened her eyes and looked up. She saw that Megan and Morgan had lowered their heads to where she was pressed against the window, and were moving their heads back and forth. They were trying to nuzzle her, Zippy realized, like they had with each other. They knew, of course, that they couldn't nuzzle her through the glass. With another pang of her heart, Zippy realized that they simply didn't know what else to for her.

Tears still streaming down her face, Zippy threw her arms wide against the glass, mimicking a hug, crying in great sobs as emotions spilled out of her in an uncontrollable deluge. Her dangerous anger subsided, replaced instead by pure undiluted anquish.

Together in the long empty hall of the tank room, human, squid and sharks expressed their sorrow to each other.

It was hours later that Zippy finally left Megan and Morgan's tank. After her breakdown, she felt more focused; and much more determined. Unfortunately, it didn't really make her feel all that better, and her thoughts as she walked down the hallways were haunted by the specter of loosing Miss Piranha. And the pressure was already starting to mount: As soon as Krystal had let them know of the situation, everyone had looked to her for leadership. It hadn't occurred to Zippy before, but as the highest rated student in the school, she had stepped into the role of de facto leader of The Shark Tank Guild.

She felt a little guilty about that; the whole secret of her success hinged on her access to the hidden library and its contents. Sure, not everyone could have put the knowledge contained in those books to good use, but still it felt like cheating. Madame Petri's didn't really care about cheating that much, everything was about results, but still there was that twinge of guilt. But then again, she'd cheat a hundred times if it kept her out of Madame Petri's experiment program, whatever the hell she was doing to the students in there. Zippy still found Petri's absence from the school more then a little odd, if not downright suspicious.

She ran one hand over the other and winced. She had a nasty bruise on her hand where she slammed it into the tank's glass. No smart, Zippy. Not good. You don't want your anger getting the better of you.

Jetson spoke up on her shoulder, "Zippy, are you feeling better?"

"A little bit, yeah." Zippy replied affectionately, "Why?"

"Because you're going the wrong way." Jetson informed her.

Zippy stopped and realized that she had passed up the right turn and was now walking out onto a catwalk running across and long circular shaft. This was the same catwalk she had chased Katjia and Nadjia across was they perused Jetson back on her first day at Petri's. God, how long ago that felt; like it was a different life. Well, she knew how to get back from here.

She peeked down over the railing, and saw the large metal box that sat so far down below on the floor of the shaft, with the square holes covered with metal mesh. The box, whatever it was, still looked like a jail cell to Zippy. It almost creeped her out, thinking what they might be keeping in there. She narrowed her eyes looking at the box.

She had thought, for a second, that she had seen movement inside. She continued looking at it, but could see no further movement within. Damn, it looked so much like a prison, but who or what could they be keeping in there? She shuddered a little bit looking at it, and couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something about it, something she should be putting together, as if there was puzzle to be solved and she didn't even know it. After a time, she continued on her way back to her dorm room.

Once she was back in the school proper and walking past the empty classroom, she stopped when something else caught her attention: The sounds of quiet sobbing coming from one of the other classrooms. She stopped, at first not sure which direction it was coming from. After a time, she pinpointed the location, a medium sized room off to her right. She hesitated and then started towards the room, still hearing the sobs.

It had to be Miss Piranha, Zippy thought, she must have broke down again. But what was she doing way down here? She came into the room, gently pushing open the door. The room was dark, and she stayed where she was letting her eyes adjust. She spied the outline of what looked like a crouched figure, shaking as it sobbed miserably. She took a tentative step forward. She slipped her hand into her pocket and gripped the noggin bobber just in case.

"Is someone there?" She asked, rather lamely.

"Go away!" The voice screeched, "Leave me alone!"

Zippy blinked in surprise: It wasn't Miss Piranha, that was for sure, but she didn't recognize the voice. It sounded familiar, however. Zippy took another step forward.

"Do you need some help?" She asked the shape, "Are you hurt?"

"Zipperdale?!" The voice hissed, "Leave me alone, haven't you done enough already?"

Now the voice rang a bell, although it was slightly different: It was Charity Milquetoast. Zippy remembered Krystal mentioning that Rick hadn't been able to find her, and come to think of it, Zippy hadn't seen her all day.

Charity sobbed pathetically, "Why did you do this to me? Why? What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"

Did she want that alphabetically, or in order of occurrence? Zippy sarcastically thought, but she held her tongue.

Instead she said, "Charity is this about the burns? They should have healed by now; you should let me take a look at them."

"Who cares about burns?" Charity shouted angrily, "I . . . I can't be seen like this."

Zippy reached over to the light but Charity's agonized shriek stopped her.

"No! Don't look at me!" She wailed, "Please, I don't want you or anyone else to see me like this! I'm so ugly. Ugly!"

She dissolved into uncontrollable wails of despair. Zippy's finger hovered over the light switch, wondering if she should honor Charity's request to leave the light out. Hell, Charity had done enough vicious underhanded things to Zippy, maybe she should just leave her to whatever fate she had encountered. Let her stay hidden in the dark, alone and miserable. Anger welled up in her, and Zippy quickly fought it down. For all her smarts, Zippy knew there was a mindless beast inside her sometimes, and letting her anger get the better of her led to . . . bad things.

She flipped on the light.

Charity shrank back, covering her face with her hands and crouching behind a large desk, letting out a frightened sob. Zippy's mouth dropped open in complete shock as she saw her.

"You did this to me, didn't you?" Charity shrieked in a bizarre mixture of rage and sorrow, tears in her . . . were those eyes?

"How the hell would I do this to you?" Zippy breathed, astonished by what she was looking at.

Charity's skin was a dull gray color all over. Her hair, once brunette, was now a grayish brown shade but retained her wavy curls. Her eyes were three times as big as they had been before, and zippy could detect no iris or pupils in the shining silver orbs which seemed to glow faintly in the light. Her ears had elongated and now rose into points through her hair and above her head. In her mouth, she could see that Charity's canine teeth had elongated until the resembled Eve's fangs. She seemed to be permanently hunched over on all fours. There were only three fingers and a thumb on each hand, and all her digits were twice as thick as normal. Her legs now sported and double jointed look similar to a dog's hind legs, and ended in what could only be described as large animal paws similar to a bear's feet. To cap it all off, a long fleshy tail, similar to a possum's but flexible like a cat's trailed out from under her skirt, swishing back and forth.

Charity Milquetoast was no longer entirely human.

**Jeepers! This is Vixen talking. And I'm telling you a little bit about next chapter. Jeepers, Zippy and her friends get to work on saving Miss Piranha's life while figuring out what happened to Charity. And Krystal gets the visit she's been dreading in the next chapter of ****Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist****, "The Tenth Experiment".**

**Jeepers! I've got it!**


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